Cambridge Enterprise has returned to back Silicon Microgravity, which builds on collaborative research between the university and BP.
Silicon Microgravity, a UK-based oil and gas surveillance provider based partly on University of Cambridge research, has received $7m in a round featuring tech transfer office Cambridge Enterprise.
Commercialisation firm IP Group also backed the round, together with its fund management subsidiary Parkwalk Advisors and BP Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of oil and gas producer BP.
Silicon Microgravity is developing highly sensitive microelectromechanical sensors (Mems) that enable more accurate monitoring, appraisal and production from oil and gas installations.
The technology is underpinned by a 3-axis accelerometer, a type of motion sensor, with a projected resolution equivalent to one billionth of the Earth’s gravity.
The products are robust enough to facilitate gravity sensing from oil and gas production boreholes and can collect a broader range of seismic imaging data than conventional alternatives.
They also have applications in other infrastructure-heavy sectors such as carbon dioxide storage, water management, mining and defence.
Separately, Silicon has begun research on a Mems-based gyroscope for inertial navigation systems, often relied upon to calculate the position, velocity and orientation of vehicles in relation to the Earth’s surface.
Silicon Microgravity launched on the back of more than a decade of research conducted at University of Cambridge’s Nanoscience Centre in cooperation with BP.
It was co-founded by Ashwin Seshia, a professor in microsystems technology in Cambridge’s Department of Engineering.
The capital will enable Silicon to drive business growth and commercialisation of its Mems technology. Silicon has drafted in Jeremy Lofts, a former executive at oilfield services provider Baker Hughes, to become its chief executive.
Silicon Microgravity received an undisclosed sum in March 2016 from Parkwalk-managed University of Cambridge Enterprise Fund III, weeks after raising $3m from Cambridge Enterprise and Touchstone Innovations, now part of IP Group.
Lofts said: “Our technology has a strong value proposition for our oil and gas customers looking to improve reservoir yields through enhanced subsurface monitoring and understanding. I am proud to join the team and lead the company at this exciting time.”
