en.Wedoany.com Reported - Casimir, Inc., a quantum energy startup headquartered in Houston, USA, officially announced on May 12, 2026, the completion of an oversubscribed $12 million seed funding round. The funds raised will be used to accelerate the commercialization of MicroSparc, the world's first quantum vacuum energy chip. This funding round was led by Scout Ventures, with participation from Lavrock Ventures, Cottonwood Technology, Capital Factory, American Deep Tech, and Tim Draper of Draper Associates. The final amount significantly exceeded the initial $8 million target, reflecting strong investor interest in this novel energy technology pathway.
Casimir was founded by Dr. Harold "Sonny" White, a former advanced propulsion systems researcher at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The company focuses on harnessing quantum vacuum fluctuation phenomena to generate usable, continuous electrical power. The physical basis of the MicroSparc chip is the Casimir effect, the attractive force arising between two closely spaced, neutral conducting plates in a vacuum due to fluctuations in the quantum electromagnetic field. The Casimir team integrates custom-designed Casimir cavity structures into semiconductor hardware, enabling the chip to continuously harvest energy from the quantum vacuum field and output electrical power, completely eliminating the need for batteries, external power cords, or charging devices. The first-generation MicroSparc chip measures just 5 mm × 5 mm, with design output parameters of 1.5 volts and 25 microamperes. Its power characteristics are comparable to small rechargeable batteries, but theoretically, it has no limitations related to chemical degradation or replacement cycles.
The company's published product roadmap indicates that the MicroSparc chip is planned for commercial availability in 2028. The initial target markets are locked into ultra-low-power electronic device sectors, covering scenarios where battery replacement costs are high or operationally inconvenient, such as tire pressure monitoring systems, embedded industrial sensors, and wearable health monitoring devices. The company estimates this market size to be approximately $10 billion. Longer-term plans involve a gradual expansion from current low-power IoT terminals to consumer electronics and electric vehicles, ultimately entering larger-scale energy systems supporting residential and commercial infrastructure, where the potential market size is projected to exceed $67 billion.
The incubation background of this technology provides further support for Casimir's industrialization narrative. Dr. White served at NASA for nearly two decades, consistently focusing his research on future energy systems and advanced propulsion technologies for humanity. This research ultimately led him to the Casimir effect and dynamic quantum vacuum models. On March 9, 2026, he published a peer-reviewed paper titled "Emergent Quantization from a Dynamic Vacuum" in *Physical Review Research*, providing a theoretical framework for engineered vacuum cavity power generation technology. Casimir's hardware development began within the Limitless Space Institute (LSI), where Dr. White also serves as Senior Director of R&D. LSI was founded by renowned technology investor Dr. Kam Ghaffarian, who continues to be involved in Casimir's operations as an investor and board member.
Brad Harrison, Founder and Managing Partner of Scout Ventures, stated in the financing announcement that Casimir represents the kind of breakthrough dual-use technology his fund was established to support. He noted that its foundation rests on a full century of scientific research and is now progressing towards a commercially viable product. Harrison praised Dr. White's exceptional ability to piece together elements from different research fields and engineer them into practical hardware, adding that Scout Ventures is committed to supporting this entire journey "from applied science to deployed technology."
On the technology validation front, Casimir's R&D work has received external support, including nanomanufacturing research funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), collaborative projects with multiple universities, and several rounds of peer review. The company has clearly stated that the seed funding will be specifically invested in further optimizing chip performance to secure initial commercial customers within the 2028 window. As artificial intelligence drives surging demand for persistently operating, low-latency computation, Casimir's battery-free architecture offers a new power supply solution for autonomous systems requiring reliable 24/7 operation without frequent maintenance. This technical characteristic may allow it to gain an early foothold in edge intelligent terminals and perpetual autonomous systems.
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