Dutch eyeo raises €40m to commercialise NCOS color-splitting image sensors
May 11, 2026 – 9:44 am
Innovation Industries leads the Series A round. imec.xpand, Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund, QBIC, High-Tech Gründerfonds, and Brabant Development Agency (BOM) also participate, contributing to a total funding of €55m. This financing is supported by the European Union’s InvestEU Fund.
Eindhoven-based eyeo aims to commercialise its Nanophotonic Color Splitting (NCOS) technology, claiming it removes a constraint that has shaped digital imaging for fifty years.
The key idea is straightforward: while conventional sensors use a Bayer color filter allowing only one color light per pixel, NCOS splits the incoming light, guiding each photon to its designated pixel. This results in capturing three times more light and potentially breaking resolution limits imposed by sub-micron pixel geometry.
The platform is backed by 26 patents and is compatible with existing CMOS sensor platforms, facilitating adoption by global tier-one vendors.
Jeroen Hoet, eyeo’s co-founder and CEO, emphasizes the milestone:
"Every modern device that sees the world, from smartphones to autonomous systems, is held back by the same 50-year-old constraint. eyeo removes it at the source."
Hoet continues, highlighting the company’s progress over seven years of development, collaboration with imec, and recent achievements:
- Completion of process integration at a commercial foundry
- Multiple tier-one customer engagements
- Opening of a dedicated sensor design center in Antwerp
- A team that has quadrupled in size within the past year.
The Series A funding will prioritize:
- Expanding the IC and system architecture design team in Antwerp
- Developing and releasing next-generation color-splitting sensors in 3D-stacked CMOS technology
- Scaling operations at the Eindhoven headquarters.