Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on solutions for the BioTech industry. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we decided to share our insights with you. This time, we are taking a look at 5 promising biochip startups.
Heat Map: 5 Top Biochip Startups
Using our StartUs Insights Platform, covering 1.116.000+ startups & emerging companies, we looked at innovation in the field of BioTech. For this research, we identified 39 relevant solutions and picked 5 to showcase below. These companies were chosen based on a data-driven startup scouting approach, taking into account factors such as location, founding year, and technology among others. Depending on your specific criteria, the top picks might look entirely different.
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 5 startups & emerging companies developing innovative biochip solutions. Moreover, the Heat Map reveals regions that observe a high startup activity and illustrates the geographic distribution of all 39 companies we analyzed for this specific topic.
Nidus Biosciences – Microbubble Arrays
Over the last decade, several biotech companies have focused on producing biochips. These miniature laboratories are capable of running numerous biochemical reactions simultaneously. This allows researchers and emerging industrial biotech companies alike to discover and work with different types of biological reactions to identify and create important new drugs. One such application of biochips focuses on antibody discovery solutions.
The US-based startup Nidus Biosciences creates microbubble arrays using proprietary gas expansion molding (GEM) technology. This technology provides a superior environment for the microbubble contents that are easily disturbed. The startup currently uses the microbubble array system for high-throughput screening of human primary B cells for research, and particularly for new antibody drug discovery.
Nutcracker Therapeutics – Messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) Therapeutics
Different RNAs control various functions in biological systems, including carrying instructions for protein synthesis, gene expression and control, and aid in chemical reactions. Emerging biotech and pharma startups develop biochips that replicate these functions. This also allows them to quickly discover novel drugs and therapies for various diseases like cancer and human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS).
Nutcracker Therapeutics is a US-based startup designing a fully-integrated system for the production of mRNA therapeutics at the push of a button. The solution enables scalable on-demand experimental and manufacturing capacity. The startup’s proprietary platform produces mRNA along with delivery vehicle formulations on dedicated single-use biochips. The startup also employs good manufacturing practices (GMP) by automating and controlling the manufacturing process using the software. This GMP-in-a-box model also allows the startup to rapidly target the production of patient-specific formulations.
Qurin Diagnostics – Oncology Diagnosis
The early detection of diseases is crucial to prevent further suffering, especially for various types of cancers. By employing biochips, both pharma and biotech companies are able to simultaneously assess numerous biochemical processes to identify novel treatments, delivery systems, as well as diagnostic solutions. The use of nanotechnology also enables point of care testing for diseases with rapid results.
Dutch startup Qurin Diagnostics combines expertise in oncology, nanotechnology, and product development to offer novel biomedical diagnostics using biochips. The startup’s low threshold nanotechnology-based platform enables the early diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of cancer and other medical conditions. The solution uses urine as a liquid biopsy source and analyzes biomarker signatures in urine samples for early diagnosis of cancer.
Encapsulate – Automated Tumor-On-A-Chip
Organ-on-a-chip (OOC) technology spans biomedical engineering, lab-on-chip, and cell biology to create a type of artificial organ. These multi-channel 3D microfluidic cell culture chips mimic the activities, mechanics, and physiological response of organ systems. Startups are recognizing the potential of biochip-based analysis, in particular for decision making, while treating numerous diseases.
The US-based startup Encapsulate provides its eponymous biochip technology to grow patient-derived cancer cells ex-vivo and later screen them against chemotherapeutic drugs. The patient’s tumor cells are broken into microtumors for testing the efficacy of hundreds of different drugs and treatments. This empowers doctors to choose the most effective and personalized treatment for each patient.
Eden Microfluidics – Microfluidic Chip
Biomedical or biological micro-electromechanical systems (Bio-MEMS) focus on mechanical parts and microfabrication technologies that are suitable for biological applications. In combination with microfluidics, Bio-MEMS benefits several biotech applications by enabling rapid prototyping, high-throughput manufacturing, and digital microfluidics at comparatively lower costs.
Eden Microfluidics is a French startup that offers Flexdym technology, which is a microfluidic and polymeric MEMS prototype industrialization solution. The Flexdym polymers are molded with a traditional hot-embossing system, or in a fume hood, with the startup’s cost-effective, user-friendly, and compact Sublym100 microfabrication kit. Moreover, this solution allows for the production of a biocompatible microfluidic chip within just 30 minutes.
What About The Other 34 Solutions?
While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence so you can achieve your goals faster. The 5 biochip startups showcased above are promising examples out of 39 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria, get in touch.
