GelSight, Inc., a spin-out of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) has announced the closing of a Series A financing round. The financing was led by Ping Fu, Founding CEO of Geomagic and current Chief Entrepreneur Officer at 3D Systems Corporation. Additional investment was made by funds managed by Omega Funds.

'GelSight has created a unique position in the marketplace for capturing 3D information that is both useful and underserved by competing technologies,' said Ping Fu. She continued, 'Like watching under a 3D microscope, GelSight reveals incredible details that can not be observed by human eyes. Moreover, GelSight can provide accurate dimensional measurements to single-digit microns. This capability can be applied to industrial inspection, forensic visualization, micro-level data capture, science education, and many more commercially viable applications.'

Founded in July of 2011, GelSight's innovation overcomes the challenges that face other imaging technologies, specifically a dependence on the optical characteristics of the materials under test. GelSight's unique approach works equally well on metals, plastics, transparent materials like glass or even a combination of materials.

GelSight's versatility lies in its elastomeric sensor with a carefully engineered coating. This sensor non-destructively and reproducibly applies a known set of optical properties to the object being imaged. Coupled with off-the shelf cameras and lenses, the imaging platform is fast, inexpensive and widely applicable. GelSight systems have been sold to Fortune 100 companies as well as leading universities and government research centers.

With no outside funding prior to this financing, GelSight had already begun to ship systems to customers in the US, Europe and Asia. As the technology has proven its utility commercially, it is expected that the installed base of hardware will grow rapidly, not to mention the ongoing, repeatable need for consumable gel sensors. A significant portion of the funds raised will be applied to facilitate GelSight's production capacity and accelerate market penetration.

GelSight's CEO, Bill Yost noted that he is, 'pleased to have investors that bring both investment and domain expertise,' and added, 'The company is growing up, and we now have backers with successful track records as company operators as well as financial investors. We think this positions us well for future growth.'

More information regarding GelSight can be found at: www.gelsight.com.