For years, terahertz technology remained largely confined to research laboratories because the equipment needed to work with it was expensive and difficult to source. For Jyotirmayee Dash, Founder, CEO and Managing Director of Chennai-based TeraLumenTeraLumen Solutions, that limitation became the reason to build a company.
Dash encountered the technology during her PhD, when the terahertz devices she used were imported, often at an exorbitant price.
“Most of the devices I was using during my doctoral degree were being imported from Germany and the US, with the cost close to Rs 1.1 crore,” Dash says. “With that in mind, after my degree, I thought, why can't we make it here?”
Founded in 2019, TeraLumen initially focused on using terahertz technology for cancer-margin detection, partly inspired by a close friend's cancer diagnosis. It has since expanded into industrial inspection and research equipment.
The company now has 25 employees and manufactures its own hardware and software. Its products include TeraXPLOR, a research and spectroscopy system; TeraNIM, a non-destructive testing platform for industries such as aerospace, automotive, and oil and gas; and TeraMargin, its cancer-margin detection technology. TeraXPLOR and TeraNIM were commercialised in 2024, while TeraMargin is undergoing clinical trials.
From expensive imports to commercial products
The founder says the startup’s industrial systems use terahertz waves to inspect materials without destroying them, including applications such as coating, thickness measurement, and defect detection. Its current website lists specialised TeraNIM systems for aerospace, automotive, and oil and gas applications, alongside TeraXPLOR for research and TeraMargin for biomedical applications.
TeraMargin, meanwhile, is designed to identify cancerous tissue margins using terahertz imaging and AI. “The technology is intended to provide rapid, reagent-free tissue imaging, with its current platform targeting 1mm margin accuracy,” she says.
TeraLumen sells its systems as products rather than primarily as a service. Pricing is customised according to the application and level of customisation, with Dash estimating the lower end at around Rs 25 lakh. She says the company has reduced the cost of its systems by about 30% compared to imported alternatives.
The company has also built its business around working closely with customers. TeraLumen now has seven customers, most of them B2B, and the founder says the interaction does not end with the sale.
“The customer works with us and we work with them. We have built very closely with all our customers so far. We work together,” Dash says.
That process has changed the products themselves. Dash says customer feedback helped TeraLumen develop scanners and robotic-arm integration, while making its systems more robust and stable.
“The first two products were a very minimal-level product, with bare minimum requirements,” she says. “Over the last two years, taking user inputs, our new TeraNIM version is much more advanced.”
Building a global terahertz business
TeraLumen raised around Rs 10 crore till December 2025. Dash says the company generated close to Rs 7 crore in revenue over the last two years and currently holds four patents.
Dash believes the company's advantage lies in controlling both hardware and software while customising systems for individual industrial applications.
“Since we make by ourselves, we have the advantage of understanding customer requirements and integrating the solution into the product,” she says. “We do take care of the customisation for the customer.”
TeraLumen also builds software for signal processing and incorporates AI into its systems, with the aim of making the underlying technology less complicated for end users. The company says its products now offer performance comparable with global suppliers while retaining a cost advantage.
Dash aims to be a global key terahertz supplier.
“More than a product provider, we would like to give complete integrated solutions to the industries,” Dash signs off.
TeraLumen Solutions is part of YourStory’s Tech30 cohort—a showcase of India’s most promising startups of 2026, unveiled at TechSparks Bengaluru.
Edited by Teja Lele