Vienna, Austria June 9th, 2026 — Invisible-Light Labs, a TU Wien spin-off developing infrared analysis technology for nanoscale materials, has closed a €1.5 million pre-seed round co-led by XISTA Science Ventures and aws Gründungsfonds, with participation from Fund F. The funding will accelerate the international commercialization of the company’s flagship product, EMILIE™, and support the development of new products for environmental monitoring, pharmaceutical analysis, and nanotechnology applications.
Nanomaterials such as aerosols, nanoplastics, and nanopharmaceuticals are becoming increasingly important in environmental health, consumer safety, advanced therapeutics, and semiconductors. At the same time, conventional analytical methods are often inadequate to chemically characterize such materials at the relevant scale in a short measurement time. Invisible-Light Labs aims to address this gap with a new generation of highly sensitive and easy-to-use tools.
Founded by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Silvan Schmid, Dr. Josiane P. Lafleur, Dr. Niklas Luhmann, and Dr. Hajrudin Bešić, Invisible‑Light Labs combines nanoelectromechanical sensing technology with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to enable chemical analysis of nanomaterials and materials available in extremely small quantities across industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to environmental monitoring.
In 2022, the European Innovation Council awarded Invisible-Light Labs a €2.22 million EIC Transition grant for the NEMILIES project to translate their NEMS technology from lab to market. EMILIE™ was launched commercially in 2024 and named #1 Innovation of 2024 by the journal The Analytical Scientist. Invisible-Light Labs entered a strategic partnership with Bruker Optics in 2025 to expand the global availability of the co-branded EMILIE™ system.
In April 2026, two peer-reviewed publications further demonstrated the technology's capabilities. In ACS Nano (Timarac-Popović et al. 2026), the team reported the chemical identification of nanoplastics at the picogram level, including analysis of nanoplastics released from a single nylon teabag. In Science Advances (Surdu et al. 2026), they showed that the platform can quantify the chemical composition of submicrometer atmospheric aerosols with detection limits roughly 1,000× lower than conventional methods.
“EMILIE™ combines the high sensitivity of nanomechanical sensing with the wide availability of infrared spectrometers. This funding will allow us to bring this new capability into more hands, from researchers developing new nanoparticle-based drugs and nanomaterials to atmospheric scientists working at the Earth’s poles.”
— Dr. Josiane P. Lafleur, CEO and co-founder, Invisible-Light Labs
“We have been deeply impressed by how the founding team of ILL has translated strong scientific insight into an exceptional technology and product, now being co-marketed with Bruker, the market leader in its field. Achieving this with limited resources speaks to the team’s capabilities, focus, and drive. We are excited to support ILL in the next stage of its journey.”
— Dr. Alexander Schwartz, Partner XISTA Science Ventures
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About Invisible-Light Labs
Invisible-Light Labs GmbH is a deep-tech company headquartered in Vienna, Austria. Spun out of TU Wien in 2019, the company commercializes nanoelectromechanical Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (NEMS-FTIR), a measurement technology that delivers picogram-level chemical identification of sub-micron particles, aerosols, and samples available in very limited quantities. Its flagship product EMILIE, also sold jointly with Bruker Optics as BRKR-EMILIE, is the world’s first commercially available NEMS-FTIR analyzer, and was named the #1 Innovation of 2024 by The Analytical Scientist. The technology was matured to market readiness under the ERC Proof of Concept grant NIRD (2019) and EIC Transition project NEMILIES (2022), with continuous national support from Austria Wirtschaftsservice via the aws Pre-Seed, aws SEED, and aws GREEN.IP programs.
Learn more at www.invisible-light-labs.com
About XISTA Science Ventures
XISTA Science Ventures (XSV) is an Austria-based venture fund investing in early-stage life science and deeptech startups across Europe. With a deep understanding of both scientific and investor perspectives, XSV is an active partner to its portfolio companies, providing support for founders in realizing deep-tech ideas and scaling enterprises. The fund's diverse portfolio spans the full breadth of science, in fields such as biotechnology, medtech, materials science, and software. XSV is embedded in the innovation system around the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA).
Learn more at www.xista.vc
About aws Gründungsfonds
aws Gründungsfonds is an Austrian venture capital fund with a fund volume of EUR 72 million. The fund supports startups from their initial growth phase through subsequent financing rounds (Series A/B) up to their exit. As a long-term, stable partner with a hands-on approach, aws Gründungsfonds works closely with founding teams as a sparring partner. Since 2013, with its predecessor fund and in collaboration with national and international co-investors, they have invested more than EUR 500 million in over 45 investments and have achieved numerous successful exits.
Learn more at www.gruendungsfonds.at
About Fund F
Fund F is an early-stage venture capital fund backing ambitious technology startups built by female entrepreneurs. Based in Vienna and investing across Europe, Fund F partners with founders from pre-seed to seed stage, providing capital, strategic support, and access to a strong international network. The fund focuses on technology-driven companies addressing meaningful challenges across industries such as climate and health.
Learn more at www.fund-f.com