High-tech scale-up Nearfield Instruments receives € 11 M from Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund

Hamed Sadeghian (CEO of Nearfield Instruments) on the announcement: “We are pleased with this additional funding. It will allow us to enhance our series production capabilities following the succesful completion of our customer’s assesment of our first in-line process control product QUADRA. Furthermore, this investment enables us to speed up bringing our second product to the market, being non-destructive subsurface nano-scale metrology”. He adds: “We celebrate the continued commitment of our current investors and welcome the investment by TNO.”

René Brama, senior investment manager at Invest-NL, expressed satisfaction with the additional funding for Nearfield Instruments, stating, "Our trust in the management team and the advanced technology of Nearfield Instruments is unwavering. This significant commitment from our Deep Tech fund represents the quintessential type of deep tech investments for which the Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund (DTF) was designed."

Nard Sintenie (Partner at Innovation Industries) adds: “Nearfield Instruments has developed very well since its inception and has reached significant technical and commercial milestones with the market acceptance of its first product. As a proud investor and shareholder from the very start, we are happy to continue our support of Nearfield Instruments. This round will accelerate the ramp-up of the company's series production and customer support organization as well as expand on the customer base. We are convinced that Nearfield Instruments will be at the forefront of metrology for the global semiconductor industry for years to come.”

Hans Boumans, Director Technology Transfer at TNO, on their investment: “We are pleased to announce TNO's participation, which underscores our confidence in Nearfield Instruments, a TNO spin-off company. It shows our commitment to supporting Dutch high-tech scaleups that pioneer groundbreaking technologies. We firmly believe in Nearfield Instruments' vision and potential, and we are excited to see them push the boundaries of what's possible in the field of nano-electronics."

About Nearfield Instruments

Nearfield Instruments is a high-tech scale-up active in the semiconductor industry. The company develops and delivers ground-breaking process control metrology solutions that are able to measure essential 3D nanostructures in a non-destructive manner during the manufacturing process of microchips. Examples of microchips are memory and logic processors for laptops, smartphones, data centers, etc. Measuring these structures is essential to be able to produce good chips.

Nearfield Instruments’ customers are global microchip manufacturers. The technique developed by Nearfield Instruments is based on so-called “Scanning Probe Microscopy” (SPM), which scans the surface in three dimensions with an atomically sharp tip. Nearfield Instruments has improved and refined SPM to achieve significant measurement speeds, and non-destructively measure complex 3D structures, both on surface (product ‘QUADRA’) and below surface (product ‘AUDIRA’). Other metrology technologies (which often work based on electrons or light (photons)) cannot measure the very smallest 3D nanostructures precisely or quickly enough non-destructively.

Nearfield Instruments is uniquely positioned and has the ambition to grow into a world-leading semiconductor metrology equipment supplier. Nearfield Instruments cooperates closely with the excellently developed high-tech ecosystem in the Netherlands. The company operates from Rotterdam (head office) and Eindhoven (High Tech Campus) and it’s subsidiary Nearfield Instruments Korea ltd. (Hwaesong) Currently, it employs 139 employees.

About Invest-NL

Invest-NL serves as the Dutch National Financing and Development Institution. As an impact investor, its principal focus is to enable financing for ventures that may initially appear unfundable. Collaborating with other financiers, investors, and development specialists—both in the public and private sectors—Invest-NL primarily addresses substantial societal challenges. These include transitioning to a carbon-neutral and circular economy, ensuring affordable and accessible healthcare, and supporting deep tech innovations. For more information, please visit www.invest-nl.nl

About Innovation Industries

Innovation Industries is a leading Dutch venture capital company that focuses on high-tech, medical technology, and agrifood technology companies. In addition to financial support, Innovation Industries offers operational and strategic support to position optimally the companies in its portfolio for success. Innovation Industries has more than € 250 million in investments under its management and invests in all phases of growth and development. More information: www.innovationindustries.com

About TNO

TNO is an independent research organization based in the Netherlands. As one of the major contract research organizations in Europe, TNO offers a broad spectrum of advanced technological and scientific solutions. TNO's primary focus is on applied science, aiming to support industry and government with innovative, practicable knowledge. Collaborating with businesses, governments, and non-profit organizations, TNO's multidisciplinary research focuses on a variety of fields, including sustainable energy, healthcare technology, and high-tech systems. With its groundbreaking research and pragmatic approach, TNO is committed to driving innovation and sustainable growth in the Netherlands and beyond. More information: www.tno.nl.