Jun 17 2013
Exo Labs, creators of the Focus Microscope Camera™, the first device to physically link a microscope to an iPad®, announced they have secured $836,000 in Series-A financing. Exo Labs officially launched their first product, the Focus Microscope Camera, on April 11th at the National Science Teachers' Association conference in San Antonio.
They see K-12 and University life science classrooms as their first customers, and sit at the intersection of two major trends – the adoption of iPads in the classroom and the renewed focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). They are also getting strong interest from private labs and manufacturing customers.
Co-founder and Exo Labs president/CEO Michael Baum notes: "The Focus Camera is a great innovation for students, teachers, and professionals. It is the first product on the market that instantly and easily connects iPads to microscopes while allowing simultaneous internet connectivity. It's just as useful in a classroom as it is in a research lab, because it incorporates an extremely easy-to-use touchscreen interface with powerful measurement and annotation capabilities. Our system frees the iPad's wireless capability to share images or video via email, wirelessly connect to a TV or projector, and more."
The company has strong engineering talent and has made great progress since their launch adding video capture capabilities and other features into their iPad app. They are also developing hardware and software to further extend their offering, like a variable focus lens option that enables the device to be used as a stand-alone camera to look at rocks, stamps, electronics, and anything else users might want to explore.
Exo Labs listened to teachers, students, and other key stakeholders to ensure that features and functionality align with classroom needs. "We want to make a real impact. I would love to have a hand inspiring the next generation of scientists," says co-founder and VP of Engineering Jeff Stewart. Exo Labs also sees strong potential for use of the Focus Microscope Camera in life science labs and in manufacturing facilities where the ability to quickly and easily capture photos or video from any microscope or macro stand and readily share data is critical to daily workflow.
Exo Labs is on the verge of closing their Kickstarter crowdfunding effort on Saturday, June 15th. They have successfully reached their target funding goal of $29,000. The funds from Kickstarter will be used to create a co-development program, making 40 cameras available to schools and other education partners at no cost. In exchange the company will receive important input that will help guide their development and keep them working toward features that will be most valuable to teachers and students. The Exo Labs Kickstarter page can be found here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/exolabs/the-focus-microscope-camera
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