Metahelios

Metahelios is a UK deep-tech company developing advanced colour filter technology for next-generation camera image sensors. Its proprietary Metafilter technology is designed to simplify image sensor manufacturing while significantly improving photo quality, including claims of roughly 30% better night-time photography sensitivity and reduced glare, targeting applications such as smartphone cameras and other high-resolution imaging chips.

Founded in 2022, the company is headquartered in Manchester, UK, where it established cleanroom nanofabrication facilities in 2023 to support its manufacturing process development. Metahelios was founded by a team with deep expertise in metasurfaces, quantum and terahertz optics, and semiconductor nanofabrication.

The founding team includes CEO Charles Altuzarra, PhD, an expert in metasurfaces, quantum optics and imaging with an MSc and PhD from Nanyang Technological University (via the CNRS/Thales/NTU joint institute), whose research has been published in Nature Photonics and cited in connection with the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics. CTO Yash D. Shah, PhD, specializes in metasurfaces, terahertz optics and semiconductor physics, holding an MSc from Northwestern University and a PhD from the University of Cambridge, with over 40 publications in top-tier journals including Nature Photonics. Nanofabrication Engineer Rob Howard holds a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Manchester and brings a decade of nanofabrication experience from the National Graphene Institute, specializing in plasma tools, metrology and wet chemistry.

Metahelios has been recognised by several prominent deep-tech programmes: it was selected by Silicon Catalyst/ChipStartUK (one of 10 chosen from 40 UK applicants), accepted into the NATO DIANA accelerator (one of 72 selected from 2,600 applicants, receiving a €100,000 grant), and chosen for the Luminate OPI accelerator (one of 10 selected from 197 applicants across 38 countries, receiving $100,000 in funding).