In a world where just about everyone has a smartphone it also means that almost everyone has become an amateur photographer. In 2019, more than 657 billion smartphone photographs were taken – and many of them blurry. But help is on the way. A promising new student venture, Scope, is hoping their invention of a new type of optical zoom lens system with electronically tunable optical power will help people take better photos while reducing the battery use, costs, and processing power of smartphones.
The brainchild of five Waterloo Nanotechnology Engineering 4th year students, Scope is now $50,000 richer thanks to winning the Palihapitiya Venture Fund, money that is meant to give the team funding to work exclusively on their product over the next four months while remaining based in Waterloo Region.
TECHNOLOGY CATCHES UP
“The
idea
of
tunable
lenses
has
been
around
for
years,
but
it’s
only
now
that
the
technology
has
caught
up
to
the
concept,”
says Holden
Beggs,
CEO
and
one
of
five
co-founders.
He
notes
that
the
problem
of
zoom
for
cameras
in
phones
is
also
fairly
new
–
for
the
longest
time
in
the
2000s
zooming
was
achieved
digitally
by
blowing
up
pixels
(dual-aperture
cameras
in
phones
made
their
debut
in
2014)
but
Scope’s
nanotechnology
innovation
fundamentally
changes
how
the
zoom
is
achieved.
Instead
of
adding
more
apertures,
Scope
improves
on
the
core
optical
technology
behind
the
camera
to
make
it
a
far
superior
system,
says
Beggs.
OPTIMIZE FOR QUALITY
The
Scope
lenses
will
reduce
a
smartphone’s
size,
cost,
and
power
load
without
compromising
other
smartphone
features,
according
to
Beggs.
“With
the
introduction
of
machine
learning
components,
our
lenses
will
be
able
to
automatically
optimize
for
wide-angle
or
telephoto
shots
without
a
quality
decrease.
Our
solution
paves
the
way
for
new
tech
like
AR
and
5G,
the
former
through
its
higher
quality
camera
and
improved
quality
at
zoom,
and
the
latter
through
a
massive
reduction
in
processing
needs.”
IMPRESSIVE TEAM
Beyond impressive technology that will allow for lossless optical zoom – almost guaranteeing anyone can incredible photos at any time – the Scope team itself is impressive. Each co-founder was chosen for the skills they bring to the team, says Beggs. In addition to designing optical crystals at Harvard, the skills he learned during his stint as Improv Club president on campus are essential as the front man during pitches and VC meetings. Alisha Bhanji has leveraged her experiences at Apple’s manufacturing design team, robotics engineering at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and co-ops at MIT and Thalmic (now North) to develop keen insights on the optical problem and Scope’s solution. Fernando Peña Cantú has built advanced optical simulations from scratch, while Zhenle Cao’s experience includes semiconductor process engineering at Analog Devices’ Hillview Fab in California, and Ishan Mishra brings both venture capital and optics expertise from positions at Nav Talent and Teledyne DALSA. “We didn’t just partner with our friends to build this – we made sure everyone had a crucial reason to be on the team,” said Beggs. He also is grateful for the advice of professors including the campus Dean of Science Dr. Bob Lemieux, and author of over four hundred optics publications Dr. Vengu Lakshminarayanan, who happily gave their time and expertise to look over Scope’s technology.
While the pandemic has forced the Scope team to temporarily suspend the in-lab manufacturing projects they had lined up, Beggs sees the silver lining of the situation. He says they are using this enforced slow down period to design and simulate new lenses, and expand their market opportunities. “A chance to look deeply at our work and make sure we’re doing it right is something very few startups ever get given,” he says.
“The $50,000 that the Palihapitiya Venture Creation Fund provided has let the team devote ourselves entirely to accelerating Scope’s progress, even during the pandemic,” said Beggs. The Scope team has previously won the 2019 Fall Concept 5k grant, are two-time recipients of the Waterloo Engineer of the Future Fund, winners of the University of Waterloo Problem Pitch 15K 2020, and most recently a $10,000 Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Awards for Capstone Design at Waterloo Engineering.
As multi-pitch winners, Scope is building a solid reputation for zooming in on an innovative solution that has been the focus of mobile phone manufacturers without much success. Scope hopes to change this and plans on filing patents on its complete zooming system later in 2020.