French MEMS startup raises $5.6 million

PARIS — French startup Neosens, specializing in the development of physico-chemical sensors in microsystems technologies, announced it has raised 4 million euros ($5.6 million) in a second capital financing round led by Sofinnova Partners, Capricorn Cleantech Fund and Galia Gestion. Existing investors ICSO Private Equity and IRDI reaffirmed their confidence in Neosens.

Neosens (Toulouse, France) said the funds will be used to finance its sales and marketing initiatives, to enable the development of next generation monitoring solutions and to add new measurement techniques to its technological platform. In December 2007, the French startup raised 2.5 million euros ($3.8 million).

In parallel, Neosens announced it has appointed Thierry Brisard as CEO. He succeeds to Laurent Auret, who remains on the board of directors.

Neosens was founded in 2001 by Laurent Auret after conducting trials on the use of MEMS for sensor applications at the ELTA-AREVA group, in collaboration with the LAAS-CNRS (Laboratory for Analysis and Architecture of Systems).

With competencies in electro-chemistry, Neosens develops and markets sensor solutions based on MEMS technology, including in-situ sensors used to measure dissolved oxygen levels in real-time, and sensors that continuously monitor biofilm and scale formation in heat exchangers and process piping.