ULM, Germany — The management team of WITec GmbH recently announced that WITec was acquired by UK-based Oxford Instruments plc and in the future will be part of Oxford Instruments’ Materials Analysis Group. WITec’s founders, Dr. Joachim Koenen and Dr. Olaf Hollricher, will continue as Managing Directors, and the well-established WITec brand will be retained in the new organizational structure.

Founded in 1997, WITec grew from a small university spin-off into an innovative Raman imaging company. It made notable progress in developing microscopy technology and installed more than a thousand Raman, AFM and SNOM systems worldwide.

“We look back on a 24-year track record of making WITec a prosperous and most innovative Raman imaging company. Now that we are joining the Oxford Instruments Group, we look forward to continuing this success together with a strong partner to grow even faster and to use existing synergies to further expand our reach into the range of markets that will benefit from our wide product portfolio,” Koenen said.

“WITec developed ground-breaking solutions in confocal Raman microscopy and correlative Raman microscopy. Oxford Instruments’ key technologies in AFM and scientific spectroscopic cameras with the brands Asylum and Andor puts WITec in an even better position for future developments,” Hollricher added.

Ian Barkshire, Chief Executive of Oxford Instruments, said, “We are delighted to welcome WITec colleagues to Oxford Instruments. WITec’s leading Raman microscopy solutions are a great complement to our existing products and techniques. Raman microscopy is an important and widely used technique across academic and commercial customers for fundamental research, applied R&D and QA/QC. The technique is used in conjunction with and alongside our existing characterization solutions and broadens the capabilities that we can bring to existing customers and expands opportunities into new market areas. Providing a broader range of solutions helps us support our customers in facilitating a greener economy, increasing connectivity, improving health and achieving leaps in scientific understanding.”

Ian Wilcock, Managing Director of Oxford Instruments Nanoanalysis and Magnetic Resonance, added, “We look forward to working with our new colleagues at WITec to develop new routes to market for their products. WITec’s RISE Raman for SEM product, for example, will ideally complement our own extensive suite of analyzers for electron microscopes.”

WITec will fulfill its obligations toward existing customers and business partners in the usual manner, and the management team will work to make the transition as smooth as possible.