Sequoia Scientific, Inc. began operations in February 1995. The company's main business is to manufacture instrumentation and software for environmental monitoring and scientific research, and carry out academic research associated with new instrument development and capabilities. As of December 2011 Sequoia Scientific, Inc. has distributors covering 48 countries. 75% of the company’s annual sales are to international customers.

The company's technological expertise is in electro-optics. Our first product was the LISST-100 laser particle size distribution analyzer, by now the de facto standard for particle size measurements everywhere in the aquatic environment . Soon thereafter, derivative LISST products were added: The LISST-ST for settling velocity distribution observations, the LISST-25 suspended sediment concentration sensor, and the LISST-Portable – the world’s first and still the only truly portable laser particle sizer. The highly successful scientific software product HydroLight was transitioned from research to a commercial product in 1998. Together with the USGS, the revolutionary LISST-SL was developed from 2004-2010, enabling hydrologists everywhere to obtain all the data they need for river discharge and sediment flux with just one instrument, and no need for laboratory sample analysis. The LISST-StreamSide for long-term monitoring of sediment size and concentration in streams and small rivers became available in mid-2008, together with a completely redesigned LISST-Portable featuring a touch panel display for even easier use. In 2009, Sequoia introduced the LISST-Infinite and the LISST-HYDRO, specifically designed for monitoring the size and concentration of sediment in hydropower turbines, enabling dam operators everywhere in the world to minimize turbine abrasion due to sediment. In 2010, Sequoia ventured into the underwater camera business by launching the LISST-HOLO, a digital submersible holographic camera aimed at the biological oceanography community and manufactured under a license from University of Plymouth, UK. In 2012, Sequoia will launch the LISST-VSF, the world’s first commercially available instrument for measuring the co- and cross-polarized volume scattering function.

Sequoia maintains multiple research and instrument development contracts funded by various sources, including the Office of Naval Research, the Naval Research Laboratory, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and other recognizable commercial and government sponsors. These research contracts involve theoretical and observational studies in sediment transport in marine boundary layers, and in optical oceanography. The company has also won SBIR contracts; the LISST-VSF being the most recent example of a Sequoia instrument developed under a NASA SBIR contract.

Sequoia Scientific, Inc. is located in Bellevue, Washington, twenty minutes east of downtown Seattle. All research and commercial activities of the company are performed at the Bellevue facility.