ICFO spin off shinephi named Catalan Startup of the Year 2025

ICFO spin off shinephi has been awarded Catalan Startup of the Year 2025 by ACCIÓ, following its victory at the 30th Catalan Pitch Competition, held within the framework of Tech Spirit Barcelona. The award recognises the company’s technological innovation and its potential to ensure zero-defect manufacturing in the semiconductor and photonics sectors.

Recently launched as ICFO’s 13th spin off, shinephi is led by Dr. Roland Terborg (CEO and cofounder), Dr. Iris Cusini (CTO and cofounder) and ICREA Research Professor at ICFO Valerio Pruneri (technology advisor and cofounder). The company builds on more than a decade of research carried out at ICFO, translating cutting-edge photonics science into robust metrology solutions designed for demanding industrial environments.

shinephi addresses a critical bottleneck in high-end manufacturing: the trade-off between speed and precision. Its proprietary interferometric imagers, powered by patented technology, deliver sub-nanometer vertical sensitivity in real-time. This breakthrough allows manufacturers to inspect 100% of their production line with laboratory-grade precision, overcoming the throughput limitations of traditional Atomic Force Microscopes (AFM) and the vibration sensitivity of optical profilometers.

With a team of expert engineers and growing traction among top-tier equipment manufacturers, shinephi is positioned to become a key enabler for the next generation of chips and advanced materials.

The award highlights not only shinephi’s technological excellence, but also the strength of the Catalan deep tech and photonics ecosystem, reinforcing ICFO’s role in fostering high impact research, innovation and successful knowledge transfer from the laboratory to industry.