Marama Labs makes next-generation UV-Vis spectroscopy instruments that measure the true optical properties of cloudy and turbid liquids without the usual step of clarifying the sample first.
Marama Labs's CloudSpec device places the sample in a highly reflective spherical chamber to separate absorption from scattering, turning measurements that once took hours into results in seconds. The Wellington company began in winemaking, where customers include Giesen and Cloudy Bay, and its technology also applies to biopharma, food and materials.
Cloudiness is not noise to be filtered, it is scattering that can be separated from absorption. Putting the sample inside a highly reflective spherical chamber does that separation physically, which is why two hours of sample preparation collapses into about 15 seconds.
NZVC invested in Marama Labs from NZVC Fund I. We file the company under Bio and Healthcare on the portfolio wall.
We backed Marama Labs because sample preparation is a hidden bottleneck across every industry that relies on spectroscopy, and removing it saves real time and cost. The technology came out of serious university physics, and the team has turned it into an instrument that paying customers use in production. Wine gave them a demanding first market to prove the product, and the same core measurement opens much larger opportunities in pharmaceuticals and food.