Hamburg's MuRay raises €7.1 million to see inside rocket engines with muon imaging
The DESY spin-out uses controlled muon beams to make 3D images of thick metal parts that X-rays cannot penetrate. It plans a first industrial imaging service in 2027.
MuRay, a Hamburg-based deep tech company, has raised €7.1 million to develop its active muon imaging technology and bring it to industrial customers, Tech.eu reported on 29 October.
The total includes a €3.5 million private round led by First Momentum Ventures and co-led by Caelora, a wholly owned subsidiary of Marvel Fusion, plus €3.6 million in non-dilutive public funding, including a grant from the EU's Horizon Europe programme. Hamburg's startup agency Startup City Hamburg and Sifted reported the same figures.
The round
Superangel, Mätch VC, Arcas VC and Tiny VC joined the private round, along with existing investor Nordic Science Investments. Startup City Hamburg said the investors come from Germany, the Nordics, the Baltics and the UK.
MuRay is led by co-CEOs Dr Andi Hektor and Dr Kristjan Põder. The company is headquartered in Hamburg with an office in Tallinn, and its team brings experience from DESY, CERN and Imperial College London. It plans to grow to up to 25 people by the end of 2027.
Seeing through metal
X-rays struggle with dense materials. "X-rays reach their limit at a few centimetres of steel, yet much of modern industry, from reusable rockets to gas turbines, is built from metal far thicker than that," Hektor said, as quoted by Tech.eu.
Muons are elementary particles similar to electrons but much heavier, and they can pass through dense metals, ceramics and composites. MuRay generates a controlled muon beam and combines it with its own detectors to build high-resolution 3D images of a component's interior. According to the company, inspections take minutes rather than hours and use a significantly lower radiation dose than conventional X-ray methods.
The first focus is quality assurance for complex, safety-critical parts such as 3D-printed rocket engines and gas turbine components, where internal defects are hard to find. "Defects that manufacturers can't see keep parts out of service for longer than they should be," Põder said.
Roadmap
Working with the German Space Agency at DLR, MuRay has modelled the inspection of a rocket engine and plans a first real-world assessment in 2027. It plans to launch its first imaging service for industrial customers in 2027, using DESY's existing electron beam in Hamburg with its own imaging system. A first full-scale system with a laser-driven accelerator is planned for 2029.
The company is also developing a mobile system about the size of a shipping container so inspections can happen at industrial sites. Longer-term, it is exploring cargo and border security, including detecting nuclear material in dense cargo, as well as radioactive waste monitoring, inspection of bridges and buildings, and clinical diagnostics.
Startup City Hamburg reported that the Hamburg investment bank IFB supports a joint project between MuRay and Siemens Energy, and that MuRay works with Munich-based Caelora on laser technology.
Why it matters for European founders and investors
MuRay is a clear example of a European science spin-out turning large research infrastructure into a product. It came out of the laser-plasma accelerator community at DESY and is based at Start-up Labs Bahrenfeld, next to the research campus. Few places outside Europe's big physics labs could support this kind of company at such an early stage.
The funding mix is also typical of hard tech in Europe. Just over half of the €7.1 million is non-dilutive public money. Grants like Horizon Europe let founders fund long development cycles without giving up too much equity before revenue, though they come with reporting obligations and can be slow.
The investor list connects MuRay to Europe's space and defence supply chain. Caelora's parent Marvel Fusion works on laser-driven fusion, and space companies are building reusable engines with additive manufacturing. Inspection is a bottleneck for both. Other European companies in this space have attracted capital too, such as Beyond Vision in drones and Destinus in defence perception.
What to watch
The key tests are the 2027 rocket engine assessment with DLR and the launch of the first paid imaging service. Turning a beamline-based service into a mobile, container-sized product by 2029 will likely require a larger round. The company has not disclosed customers or revenue.
Spotted an error? Email contact@europreneursmedia.com and we'll correct it. See our corrections policy and editorial standards.
