Harnessing the Power of Fiber Optics: AOMS Technologies’ Success in Technology and Funding

By Phyllis Mak, RIC Centre’s Communications Intern

Advanced Opto-Mechanical Systems and Technologies Inc. (AOMS Technologies), a company that specializes in mechanical, electronic and optical systems, has just closed $500,000 in Seed Financing through GreenSky Capital. Amir Azhari, RIC Centre Incubator tenant and President of AOMS, discussed AOMS’ unique technology and the company’s success with us.

“We realized there was a need in the market for our sensors,” says Amir. “When we saw that there was an interest from different companies, we thought we could commercialize this technology.”

AOMS’s all-in-one fiber optic sensors are based on optics, immune to signal interference or chemicals and can do distributed sensing over long distances, even in harsh or extreme environments. Using the power of modulated optical waves in the core of optical fibers, AOMS’ tech can track physical changes in its environment.

“Our tech can monitor multiple parameters such as pressure and temperature at the same time with a single sensing cable,” explains Amir.

This year, AOMS had the opportunity to deploy sensors in North America, giving them the chance to test their product in the real world and address the challenges sensing technology might have in the field. Additionally, they’ve also started working with the second largest coating manufacturing company in the world.

“They asked us to provide them with sensing solution to monitor coating of their pipelines, so we developed a specific product they could embed into that coating,” reveals Amir. “Performance can then be monitored in real time, continuously, using the sensors in their facilities.”

AOMS’ key advantages to their tech also includes immunity to electromagnetic interference, high temperature stability and robust opto-mechanical packaging. Their all-in-one system also means that the core sensing technology with optical signal transformation and data analysis is integrated, allowing AOMS to deliver turnkey solutions such as measurement to data analysis.

AOMS had just closed $500,000 in Seed Financing with GreenSky Capital, which will enable the company to scale up its sales and marketing efforts and expand innovation through continued product development.

“The RIC Centre was very helpful towards raising capital for company,” says Amir. “When we were accepted as tenants in the incubator, we had the chance to present our technology in front of industry leaders, investors and venture capital at RIC Centre events. The intro to GreenSky was done by RIC, and through this process they worked on market opportunities we had, assessed the quality of the management team, the value and uniqueness of our tech, and contacted customers. Finally, after 5-6 months of working together and receiving great support from the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence at RIC, we finally accepted our financing from the GreenSky Accelerator Fund.”

AOMS is now looking forward to focusing on expanding the market opportunity into the environmental remediation industry, such as monitoring pipelines, coating and leakage problems. Deploying sensors into the oil and gas industry is also part of the future plan.

“We’re also looking into structural health monitoring,” says Amir. “We can use sensors to monitor the integrity of structures, such as bridges or buildings, or for stress distribution over the structure.”

Throughout 2016, AOMS managed to make the transition from customer discovery to customer creation, arriving at the point where they now have a vast amount of recurring customers. AOMS was also one of the finalists for the ReMAP program cohort, a program that selects projects that show great potential, product relevance and benefits for Canada. For 2017, Amir wants to create the same story, but in different markets— he wants AOMS to penetrate into other industries and find more recurring customers in those places as well.

“We have got some markets covered,” Amir reveals. “I’m hoping to tap into other ones as well.”

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Congratulations to AOMS Technologies on their achievements! You can find out more about AOMS Technologies here.

Are you starting a business that requires expert advice? Check out our Incubator Program and see if you can apply. Don’t forget to become a RIC Centre client today to commercialize your innovative business idea!