Corporate team advises University of Oxford spin-out Opsydia on £1.9 million funding round for diamond security technology

Posted: 08/06/2018

The corporate team at Penningtons Manches has advised Oxford based Opsydia Limited on its £1.9 million funding from Oxford Sciences Innovation and Parkwalk and subsequent agreement with leading diamond dealers, De Beers.

Opsydia is a spin-out company from the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford. It has unveiled ground-breaking new technology to help address the risk of tampering and counterfeiting in the diamond sector. Opsydia’s technology uses laser pulses shorter than one trillionth of a second in length, shot over a million times per second, to create tiny lines which can be written as numbers or logos within the diamond. These are invisible to the human eye, but can be viewed via a microscope. This means security can be maintained even when gems are mounted in jewellery. The transformational technology is being adopted by one of the world’s leading diamond groups, De Beers Group, as part of its new lab-grown diamond initiative, Lightbox Jewelry.

Andrew Rimmer, CEO of Opsydia, said: “Our laser technology can transform security in the diamond industry and support industry initiatives to prevent counterfeiting and tampering. Following the investment from our shareholders, we have a process that works today on an industrial scale. We expect to be able to deliver systems to operators in the diamond industry within months, allowing us to move swiftly to profitability.”

The Penningtons Manches team included corporate associate Attilio Leccisotti, IP partner Chris Shelley, commercial associate Edmund Forey and tax specialist Kathy Hills.

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