Yahui Investment Leads Series B Funding in Sigma Squares, a Pioneer in Medical Vision-Based Intelligent Manufacturing

Oct 17, 2024 08:00 CST Updated 08:00

Sigma Squares

Intelligent Vision Equipment and Software Developer, Provider of Comprehensive Enterprise-level Vision Solutions

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Yahui Investment recently completed the B-round investment in Sigma Squares. Sigma Squares is an upstream manufacturer that focuses on machine vision and provides intelligent production lines and single-machine inspection equipment to medical and pharmaceutical companies. Based on the industrial background of the company's founders, Sigma Squares has a particularly strong competitive advantage in the field of contact lenses and is an important supplier of upstream intelligent production lines for contact lenses in China.

China's annual consumption of contact lenses exceeds 3 billion pieces, with the end-user market growing rapidly and products in short supply. However, a significant portion of the market share is still occupied by imported brands.All contact lens manufacturers in China are expanding their production capacity to achieve import substitution. Meanwhile, in the contact lensIn the quality inspection环节 of production, limited by transparent materials and cosmetic lens patterns, traditional manual visual inspection is costly and难以保证检测率和稳定性.All manufacturers have an urgent demand for fully intelligent and automated production lines based on machine vision inspection.。

Sigma Squares takes defect detection for transparent and flexible materials as the entry point and core technology.A complete full-process intelligent manufacturing platform integrating production, testing, and industrial data collection and feedback is provided.Sigma Squares has thus entered a period of rapid performance growth. We look forward to the company leveraging its current advantages in the contact lens field to quickly expand into pharmaceuticals and other medical fields, achieving multi-curve growth and injecting vitality into the intelligent upgrade of China's medical industry.

Video Source: Sigma Squares

The following content is from: Sigma Squares

Recently, Sigma Squares (Beijing) Tech Co., Ltd.Sigma Squares (Beijing) Tech Co., Ltd. ("Sigma Squares" hereinafter) announced the completion of a B-round financing worth hundreds of millions of yuan. The company is committed to intelligent solutions for computer vision systems, providing full-stack visual services for manufacturing enterprises, including optical imaging system design, custom visual algorithms, custom visual equipment development, and visual and production data integration. It is one of the first companies in China to propose the concept of industrial cloud vision.

Sigma Squares is headquartered in Beijing, with research and development centers, smart manufacturing centers, and sales centers established in Chengdu, Sichuan; Dongguan, Guangdong; Southampton, UK; and Taiwan. After this round of financing, Sigma Squares will set up an East China Center in Suzhou to further expand the research, development, and production of intelligent manufacturing systems for more medical devices and consumables.

Image Source: Sigma Squares

The company's founding team and advisory team are composed of senior scientists and engineers from the industry both in China and abroad. More than 50% of the company’s employees hold a master's or doctoral degree in a related field. Dr. Zhonglun Cai, the founder and CEO, has over a decade of research and development experience gained at British universities, research centers, and world-leading industrial manufacturing enterprises. He is proficient in the latest technologies in computer vision, intelligent learning control, and machine learning algorithms. He also has extensive R&D experience in industrial vision and intelligent automation system design, including optical design, imaging, automation interfaces and integration, various bus systems, and network communications.

Since its establishment in March 2018, Sigma Squares has been successively selected as a "Bud Enterprise" in Haidian District of Beijing, a "Golden Seed Enterprise" in Zhongguancun, a national model unit for scientific and technological innovation in high-quality development, and one of the top 50 "Gazelle" enterprises with high-tech and high growth in Digital China 2021. The company owns more than a hundred intellectual property rights around its core products and is recognized as a national high-tech enterprise and a Zhongguancun high-tech enterprise. In 2023 and 2024, it was respectively included in the list of specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in Beijing and the list of national specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative "Little Giant" enterprises.

Currently, the company's products and services are mainly applied in the high-end medical device and pharmaceutical industries, but can also extend to semiconductor, 3C, and new energy industries.

Notably, Sigma Squares is a leader in the inspection of optometric medical devices, particularly contact lenses, boasting world-class products and technology in this niche field. In 2023, Sigma Squares became the first in Asia to launch a fully intelligentized contact lens production line, achieving the industry's first seamless transition from traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing. Currently, the company’s technology and products serve several renowned contact lens manufacturers across Europe and Asia.

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The company currently has five major product pipelines: the Sirius software suite (enterprise-level cloud vision software suite), the Insvis product series (transparent material product inspection), the Pharmvis product series (large-scale pharmaceutical production inspection system), the Tipvis product series (high-performance touch detection platform), and the Medivis product series (medical consumables production inspection system).

Among them, the core product line Insvis takes defect detection for transparent and flexible materials as the entry point and core technology, providing an integrated intelligent manufacturing platform that includes production, inspection, and industrial data collection and feedback. Since its establishment, Sigma Squares has heavily invested in R&D for high-difficulty and highly complex visual inspection scenarios, from inspection modules to independent inspection equipment, and later to the implementation of intelligent production lines integrating production and inspection. Compared with traditional automation and equipment manufacturers, Sigma Squares perfectly combines industrial and automation equipment with its self-developed intelligent software platform Sirius MPC. By integrating production and manufacturing with machine vision inspection data, it provides a complete closed-loop production data system, achieving an overall digital, networked, and intelligent production and manufacturing solution, offering customers tangible value enhancement.

Image Source: Sigma Squares

Moreover, the Pharmvis product line of Sigma Squares has introduced numerous high-end testing equipment and products for solid and liquid inspections in the pharmaceutical industry. Flagship products include 360-degree comprehensive visual inspection equipment for tablets, capsules, and soft capsules, as well as packaging inspection equipment for various blister packs, medicine bottles, and more. It can serve various enterprises in pharmaceutical production and manufacturing, providing assistance in their intelligent manufacturing transformation and cost reduction and efficiency improvement. The company has now established cooperation with leading pharmaceutical companies such as Sinopharm Group, Weigao Group, Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group, Taiji Pharmaceutical Group, Kelun Pharmaceutical, and Baxter Qiaoguang Pharmaceutical.

Image Source: Sigma Squares

Regarding this round of financing, Cai Zhonglun, founder of Sigma Squares, stated: "Since its establishment, Sigma Squares has always adhered to the mission of 'helping manufacturing enterprises foresee the future of intelligent manufacturing.' We have continuously strived to cultivate deeply in niche industries and remained committed to ongoing research and development in optical imaging, visual algorithms, mechanical and electrical systems, industrial data, and artificial intelligence (AI). This has enabled us to integrate multiple interdisciplinary fields. In the ophthalmic optics consumables industry, we achieved an Asian first by launching a revolutionary comprehensive intelligent manufacturing solution. This would not have been possible without the long-term support from our investors, the relentless efforts of our team, and the opportunities and trust given by our customers. We believe that Sigma Squares will continue to grow rapidly within the medical and pharmaceutical industries and promote the concept of intelligent manufacturing to more manufacturing sectors, providing greater value for the continuous upgrading and development of Made-in-China."

Jiao Zhonggang, the person in charge of Yahui Investment Project, said: "Sigma Squares, with machine vision as its core, provides intelligent production lines and single-machine inspection equipment to medical and pharmaceutical enterprises. Its competitive advantage is particularly prominent in the field of contact lenses, meeting the urgent needs of Chinese manufacturers for fully automated production lines. We look forward to the company expanding rapidly into pharmaceuticals and other medical fields based on the current advantages established in the contact lens sector, achieving multi-curve growth and injecting vitality into the intelligent upgrading of China's medical industry."

sigmasquares

About Sigma Squares

Sigma Squares (Beijing) Tech Co., Ltd. is a high-tech Sino-foreign joint venture that serves the global market, integrating the research and production of industrial vision inspection systems, enterprise-level cloud vision services, and smart manufacturing data platform services. It is a national high-tech enterprise and a Zhongguancun high-tech enterprise. Established in March 2018, the company focuses on industrial vision, computer vision, and industrial automation, providing automated solutions for comprehensive cloud-based computer vision systems. It offers full-stack vision services to manufacturing enterprises, including optical imaging system design, custom vision algorithms, custom vision equipment development, and the integration of vision and production data. Through these services, it helps clients across various industries improve production efficiency, reduce production costs, and enhance product quality.

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