Zero Point Motion

Zero Point Motion is a Bristol-based deep-tech startup founded in 2020 to revolutionise inertial sensing — the technology used to measure acceleration and rotation in everything from smartphones and drones to autonomous vehicles and military navigation systems. The company was founded by Dr. Ying Lia Li, whose PhD research in optomechanics at University College London produced a new approach to motion sensing that harnesses the ultra-sensitive properties of light to detect mechanical movement far more precisely than conventional MEMS sensors.

Zero Point Motion's breakthrough is a chipscale fusion of silicon photonics and MEMS technology that produces accelerometers and gyroscopes 100 times more sensitive than current commercial sensors — at a cost and size compatible with high-volume consumer and industrial markets. This enables precise positioning and navigation in environments where GPS is unavailable or compromised, including urban canyons, underground networks, tunnels, ships, and contested military environments.

In 2025, Zero Point Motion raised £4 million in a pre-Series A round backed by SCVC (the investment arm of Bristol's Science Creates ecosystem), Foresight Group, and Verve Ventures, emerging from stealth after years of development. The company has secured £1.3 million from the UK's Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and a €2.4 million grant from the European Innovation Council, and is now scaling its sensor platform for defence, autonomous vehicles, drones, agritech, and industrial logistics.