What Chroma Technology Corp does

Chroma Technology Corp is a privately held, 100% employee-owned specialty photonics manufacturer founded in 1991 and headquartered at 10 Imtec Lane, Bellows Falls, Vermont. The company designs and produces high-performance thin-film optical coatings and filters across a 200-3000nm spectral range, including longpass, shortpass, bandpass, multi-bandpass, notch rejection, neutral density, dichroic beamsplitters, and reflective metal mirrors. Manufacturing is vertically integrated within 17,000+ sq ft of clean room space, using a proprietary modified magnetron sputtering process to deliver steep spectral edges, OD8+ blocking, and reflected wavefront distortion controlled to approximately 1/2 wave for demanding applications such as TIRF and confocal microscopy.

The company's products are sold as individual catalog filters, pre-configured filter sets (ET and AT series, plus application-specific sets for FRET, TIRF, PCR, FISH, ratiometric, Raman, astronomy LRGB and narrowband), filter accessories (cubes, sliders, rings), and fully custom OEM filter solutions. Chroma monetizes through three primary streams: unit-priced direct e-commerce sales of catalog items, quote-based custom design and engineering services, and OEM supply agreements with volume pricing and long-term contracts. Rapid prototyping is offered with 2-week lead times, supported by tens of thousands of non-catalog filters held in inventory for fast fulfillment.

Chroma serves OEM and end-user customers across life sciences and diagnostics, microscopy and imaging, industrial automation and machine vision, astronomy and astrophotography, analytical spectroscopy, and aerospace and defense. Named platform compatibility spans Nikon, Olympus/Evident, ZEISS, Leica, Yokogawa, Keyence, BD Biosciences, Bio-Rad, Molecular Devices, and Thorlabs, with international operations in Germany, China, and Japan. The company is B Corp certified, ISO 9001:2015 certified (NQA), REACH and ROHS compliant, and holds U.S. Patent 8,488,238 for a custom TIRF filter cube design.

Name

Chroma Technology Corp

Legal name

Chroma Technology Corp

Website

https://chroma.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Chroma Technology Corp is a 100% employee-owned U.S. manufacturer of precision thin-film optical filters and filter sets (200-3000nm), serving life sciences OEMs, industrial machine-vision, astronomy, and aerospace/defense customers through catalog, custom, and OEM channels.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Bellows Falls

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Optical Filter Sales: Sale of high-performance optical filters covering the spectral range from 200-3000nm, including off-the-shelf catalog filters, custom filters, and high-volume production products. Filter types include longpass, shortpass, multi-bandpass, notch rejection, neutral density filters, beamsplitters, and reflective metal mirrors.
2. Custom Filter Design & Engineering Services: Custom design and engineering services for optical filters tailored to exact performance, precision, and application requirements. Includes consultation, thin-film coating expertise, and end-to-end engineering support.
3. OEM Partnerships: High-volume orders and OEM solutions for original equipment manufacturer clients, with volume pricing or long-term supply agreements available through quote process.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Chroma Technology Corp designs, engineers, and manufactures high-performance optical filters and filter sets spanning 200–3000nm for fluorescence microscopy, spectroscopy, machine vision, astronomy, and aerospace applications. The company sells individual filters, pre-configured filter sets, mounting accessories, and Spectra Viewer software, and delivers custom/OEM filters through a dedicated design engineering and rapid prototyping (2-week lead time) capability backed by vertically integrated thin-film coating manufacturing.

Product overview

Chroma Technology Corp is a manufacturer of precision-engineered optical filters and filter sets serving the life sciences, industrial, and astronomy markets. Their product portfolio centers on optical filters covering 200-3000nm spectral range, including bandpass, longpass, shortpass, edge/dichroic, fluorescence, Raman, and specialty filters. These are offered as individual filters, pre-configured filter sets (such as ET and AT series), and filter accessories like cubes and holders. Supporting services include custom design engineering, rapid prototyping (2-week delivery), and manufacturing with optical coatings. The company also provides Spectra Viewer, an interactive online spectral modeling tool for filter selection and analysis. Chroma operates vertically integrated manufacturing with clean room facilities and serves OEM clients across applications including fluorescence microscopy, machine vision, analytical spectroscopy, and astronomy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Optical Filters Individual high-performance optical filters covering a spectral range from 200–3000nm with superior durability and longevity, including longpass, shortpass, bandpass, multi-bandpass, edge/dichroic, fluorescence, Raman, notch rejection, neutral density, polarizers, and reflective mirrors. Sold to researchers, OEMs, and system integrators in life sciences, microscopy, industrial machine vision, astronomy, and aerospace.
• Filter Sets Pre-configured combinations of excitation filters, dichroic beamsplitters, and emission filters optimized for specific fluorochromes and applications including fluorescence microscopy, astronomy, FRET, TIRF, Raman, PCR, FISH, machine vision, and ratiometric imaging. Targeted at researchers and instrument developers needing matched filter performance out of the box.
• Filter Accessories Cubes, sliders, rings, diagnostic slides, and reclaimed cubes for mounting and using optical filters in microscopy and imaging systems. Used by researchers and OEM platforms to integrate Chroma filters into existing instrumentation.
• Custom & OEM Filter Design and Engineering Custom design and engineering services for optical filters tailored to exact performance, precision, and application requirements, including consultation, thin-film coating expertise, and end-to-end engineering support for OEM customers. Delivered to OEM clients across astronomy, spectrometry, machine vision, fluorescence microscopy, life sciences, and aerospace applications.
• Rapid Prototyping Services Custom optical filter prototyping service offering delivery of custom products in as little as 2 weeks from order date, supporting OEM clients during early stages of product development or refinement of existing designs across astronomy, spectrometry, machine vision, and fluorescence microscopy applications.

Quantifiable outcome

• 93-97% typical transmission for ET filter series
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Microscope Platform Manufacturers (Compatibility)coreTechnology or IntegrationChroma designs and manufactures high-performance optical filters compatible with a broad range of microscopy and imaging platforms including Nikon, Olympus/Evident, ZEISS, Leica, Yokogawa, Keyence, Crest, Cairn, BD Biosciences, Bio-Rad, Molecular Devices, and Thorlabs. Supports legacy instruments through current advanced fluorescence and confocal systems.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Omega Optical: Omega Optical manufactures optical interference filters, dichroics, and fluorescence filter sets for life sciences, aerospace, and analytical instrumentation. A specialty optical filter manufacturer with comparable OEM and catalog business model.
• Semrock (IDEX Health & Science): Semrock is a direct competitor in high-performance optical filters for life sciences, biotechnology, and laser-based instrumentation, with particular strength in fluorescence microscopy filter sets. Closest direct peer to Chroma in the OEM/analytical filter space.
• Thorlabs: Thorlabs manufactures and distributes a broad catalog of optical components including bandpass, notch, dichroic, and fluorescence filters for microscopy, laser, and photonics applications. Directly comparable as a multi-catalog optical filter and photonics component supplier serving both OEM and research customers.
• Edmund Optics: Edmund Optics is a large catalog distributor and manufacturer of optical components including bandpass, longpass, shortpass, notch, and fluorescence filters. Competes directly with Chroma in the catalog and OEM filter business across industrial and life science end markets.

Broad incumbents

• Corning Incorporated: Corning's Optics & Specialty Glass segments include precision optical substrates and coated components for aerospace, life sciences, and industrial applications. Touches Chroma's market at the substrate and high-end optics adjacency but does not specialize in the filter niche.
• Schott AG: Schott produces specialty glass, optical components, and thin-film coated filters for industrial, life science, and aerospace applications. Overlaps with Chroma in coated optical filters but competes from a much larger materials and optics platform.
• Newport / MKS Instruments: Newport (MKS Instruments) provides a broad portfolio of photonics and optical components, including filters, optics, and laser subsystems. Overlaps with Chroma's OEM filter offerings but operates as part of a much larger photonics platform across multiple product categories.
• Hamamatsu Photonics: Hamamatsu Photonics manufactures a wide range of optoelectronic components and optical filters for scientific, medical, and industrial applications. Overlaps with Chroma in fluorescence and analytical filters but is a much broader photonics platform.
• IDEX Corporation: IDEX owns Semrock and other fluidics/photonics businesses serving life science and analytical instrumentation. Indirect competition at the parent level where Chroma competes for OEM filter sockets on instrumentation platforms.

Others

• Materion Corporation: Materion supplies specialty materials including thin-film coating materials and precision optics used by filter manufacturers and OEMs. Functions as an upstream supplier/ecosystem participant to the optical filter industry rather than a direct competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/chromavt
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/chroma-technology-corp

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Chroma Technology Corp