Microbritt raises £400,000 to scale unique micro milling solution  

Microbritt, a bespoke high-precision micromanufacturing service which has unique capabilities in manufacturing products from brittle materials such as glass, silicon, polymers and ceramics, has raised £400,000 in an investment round led by the North East Innovation Fund supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Northstar Ventures, alongside Business Investors Group and angels.

Microbritt, which spun out from Newcastle University in 2021, has developed a patented process for the production of high value prototypes and complex products which are created from brittle materials. The technology has applications across several key strategic sectors for the UK economy, such as semiconductors, healthcare (microfluidics), photonics and defence and the company is actively engaged with customers across these sectors.

They are also working with key partners on an Innovate UK funded project, called PathoScout, to explore the use of microfluidics to monitor and treat agricultural crop diseases.

Microbritt will use the investment to scale its production capacity, expand the sales and engineering team and invest in R&D.

Carl Dale, CEO of Microbritt, said: ‘It’s amazing to see how the company has gone from strength to strength over the past few years – we started as a small spinout but we’re now scaling fast. This has been due to the fact, as a manufacturing service, we help to solve our customers’ problems and allow them to overcome their technical hurdles to develop their own products – this allowed us to gain customer traction fast and generate revenues within one month of operating. This round of investment will help us to develop a sales team to drive sales to a worldwide audience, alongside scaling our engineering capacity. This is a very exciting time for the company.’

Tom O’Neill, Investment Manager at Northstar Ventures, said: ‘We are pleased to support Microbritt with further funding, which will enable them to scale up production capacity and invest in the technology and team. They have developed a unique, high-value process with applications across many large and growing sectors and we look forward to seeing the business continue to grow in the next stage of their journey.’

Find out more about the North East Innovation Fund here