Company overview

Get to know Exosens

Exosens is a high-tech group with over 85 years of experience in the innovation, development, manufacture and sale of high-end electro-optics technologies in the field of amplification, detection and imaging.

Exosens began its activities under the name Hyperelec as a subsidiary of Philips in 1937 at its historic site in Brive-la-Gaillarde (FR). After leaving the Philips fold in 1998, Hyperlec became Photonis by merging with Delft Electronic Products (NL) and Burle (USA). In 2021, HLD became the majority shareholder in Photonis, which changed its name to Exosens in 2023 following the acquisitions of Xenics, Proxivision, El-Mul and Telops.

Exosens offers a broad portfolio of detectors and imaging solutions such as light intensifier tubes, digital cameras with different wavelengths, ion, electron, neutron and gamma ray detectors as well as power tubes and travelling wave tubes.

Exosens sells most of its products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), who then integrate the products into their own systems and equipment and sell them on to their own customers, the end users facing complex issues in challenging environments in the areas of defence and surveillance, life sciences, nuclear energy and industrial control.

Exosens has established a global geographic footprint, offering its products in over 50 countries. It also has ten production and R&D located in Europe and North America. Exosens position itself as a major innovator electro-optics, with a portfolio of over 130 patents registered by the Group.

Exosens offers its products through 4 brands: Photonis, Xenics, Telops and El-Mul.

Exosens is the leader in the Light Amplification market (outside the United States) and one of the leaders in the Detection and Imaging markets. The Group organises its activities around these two segments:

Amplification, consisting of systems using the amplification of electrons or electromagnetic waves to produce an image or power source. The majority of amplification sales come from selling components and modules for integration into instruments and systems used by end-users in the defence sector (mainly the armed forces and internal security services).

Detection & Imaging, consisting of systems for detecting (optical or electronic) signals or generating an image from radiation in different wavelength bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. The vast majority of sales in this segment come from the sale of high value-added components and modules for integration into instruments and systems for end-users in commercial (i.e. non-defence) markets. These markets encompass sectors such as nuclear power generation, research laboratories, the oil and gas industry, the food and drink industry, life sciences, semiconductors, electronics and recycling.

More about Exosens

Exosens’ growth strategy is based on the five pillars

The Group’s ambition is to strengthen its position as a leading technology platform addressing the entire spectrum of particles and light, enabling it to pursue profitable growth by positioning itself in high- growth markets based on a need for high value-added technologies. By drawing on its strong capacity for innovation, its global commercial presence and targeted acquisitions, Exosens aims to generate a high level of profitability and cash flow. Exosens is focusing its strategy on five pillars, which benefit from significant synergies between them:

INNOVATE IN TECHNOLOGY

Exosens intends to draw on its strong innovation capacities to develop new technologies (such as scintillators, photocathodes and artificial intelligence), improve the size, weight and energy consumption (SWAP) of its products, enhance their performance (especially sensitivity and speed), and improve product testing capacities and ergonomics. This innovation is deployed in the Group’s 4 end markets: defence, life sciences, industrial control and nuclear power.

Exosens has made a name for itself worldwide by launching a number of products featuring innovative technology, such as the 16mm image intensifier tube, which has enabled the design of night vision binoculars that are now a market benchmark, and the high-dynamic BPTOF detector for microbiology and pharmaceutical mass spectrometry.

Exosens can rely on its long-term relationships with an ecosystem of players at the cutting edge of technological innovation (university research centres, technology companies, scientific laboratories, etc.) covering all its end markets.

FOCUS ON TARGETED NICHES

Exosens aims to be a leader in high-growth niche markets where performance standards are extremely high and critical:

semiconductor inspection
methane detection
neutron monitoring in nuclear reactors,
predictive maintenance for high-voltage power lines, etc.

Exosens is also seeking to make its positioning difficult to replicate. To achieve this, Exosens can rely on :

its technological and strategic advantage,
its very long-term relationships with customers and end-users,
the design of products for critical applications with high standards of quality and reliability,
unique industrial know-how and in-house skills,
operational excellence in industrial processes.

By offering products that meet the demand of high-growth niche markets, Exosens has been able to significantly increase its market share.

GROW WITH CUSTOMERS

The Group intends to build on its long-term relationships with its major customers to increase and secure the repeatability of its revenue, and thus grow faster than its underlying markets.

The products sold by Exosens are generally designed in direct collaboration with the manufacturer or the end-user themselves in order to meet their specific needs throughout the life of the system, which then allows a short sales cycle once the product has been qualified by the end-user.

CSR EMBEDDED AT CORE

The Group’s strategy is geared towards pursuing business and production that contribute to the sustainable development of the economy.

Exosens products are used in a wide range of applications to help combat climate change. For example, the Group is developing products to detect methane gas in a market that is growing rapidly as a result of the development of regulations in this area. In the field of methane detection, the Group has developed hyper-spectral cameras that can identify and detect methane emissions in real time, whether by day or night, on snow or in water.

ACCELERATE WITH SELECTIVE EXTERNAL GROWTH

The Group’s growth strategy is based in particular on a dynamic acquisitions policy, which is intended to enable it to generate additional revenue growth through carefully targeted acquisitions of companies selected according to strict criteria and implemented in line with the characteristics of the markets in which the Group operates.

In particular, the Group targets acquisitions that can provide it with high value-added technologies and compatible with its technology platform that complement its current product portfolio, enable it to expand the addressable market and/or enable it to achieve or strengthen a leadership position, while giving the acquired targets the leverage provided by its global commercial footprint and its expertise in operational excellence, in order to accelerate the growth of the Group’s activities, improve its profitability and strengthen its cash generation.

Exosens’ external growth strategy is focused primarily on the Detection and Imaging market, with the aim of achieving a balanced split between its Amplification and Detection and Imaging activities by 2027.