K3Metrology, a spin-out from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), has launched with £2.75 million in seed funding to commercialise Metralis — a next-generation metrology platform that tackles the precision measurement challenges of advanced manufacturing.
The round was backed by the Development Bank of Wales (£1 million equity), Parkwalk (£1 million), and the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (£750,000).
Based at AMRC Cymru in Broughton, North Wales, the company was founded by Professor Ben Hughes and Dr Mike Campbell, following more than a decade developing Metralis at NPL. The technology emerged from direct feedback from industrial users frustrated with the limitations of legacy measurement systems.
Metralis delivers real-time, high-accuracy measurement at unprecedented scale for aerospace, defence, nuclear and other high-value manufacturing sectors. In customer trials, one major manufacturing partner reported 60% efficiency gains.
“For decades, manufacturers have been forced to compromise between accuracy, speed and scalability. Metralis removes that trade-off entirely.”
— Dr Mike Campbell, CEO, K3Metrology
The investment will fund completion of product development, growth of the team in North Wales, and the company’s first commercial deployments.
Commenting on the investment, Gareth Mayhead, Investment Executive at the Development Bank of Wales, said: “K3Metrology is a high-quality technical spin-out with genuinely differentiated technology and clear commercial potential.”
Read the Development Bank of Wales announcement →
In the press
The seed round was covered by:
- Sky News — Mark Kleinman’s City blog
- The Engineer — NPL spinout K3Metrology nets £2.75m seed raise
- New Electronics — K3Metrology secures £2.75m funding to advance manufacturing measurement technology
- Bdaily — K3Metrology measures up with £2.75 million backing
- Insider Media — Spin-out secures £2.75m seed investment to support advanced manufacturing productivity
- IT Brief UK — K3Metrology raises £2.75m in seed funding round
- EE Journal — UKI2S backs NPL spin-out K3Metrology in £2.75m seed round
- ADS Advance — K3Metrology secures UKI2S advanced manufacturing support