context
Tier 1 - Full Lab Automation Platforms
Medra
- Focus: Physical AI for autonomous lab work
- Funding: $52M Series A (Dec 2025), ~$63M total
- HQ: San Francisco
- Key Tech: General-purpose robots + agentic models with visual/language understanding; automates ~70% of lab instruments
- Partners: Genentech, Cultivarium, Addition Therapeutics
- Founded: 2021 by Michelle Lee (Stanford PhD in robotics)
Automata
- Focus: Modular lab automation platform (LINQ)
- Funding: $42M (Jan 2025)
- HQ: London, UK
- Key Tech: LINQ bench (modular robotic benches) + LINQ Cloud (workflow scheduling)
- Customers: The Royal Marsden (genomic testing)
- Note: Has Anthropic deal/collab
- Founded: 2015
Trilobio
- Focus: Full lab automation "in a box" for biologists
- Funding: $8M Seed (led by Initialized Capital), $11M total
- HQ: San Francisco
- Key Tech: Trilobot robot + interchangeable lab tools + Trilobio OS (no-code GUI)
- Customers: Leconte Group, Abalone Bio, Triton Bio
- Founded: 2021 by Roya Amini-Naieni & Maximilian Schommer (Forbes 30 Under 30)
Zeon Systems
- Focus: Natural language-driven lab automation
- Funding: YC X25 batch (Spring 2025)
- HQ: San Francisco
- Key Tech: Type experiments in plain English → robotic arms execute; computer vision detects equipment
- Customers: Stanford, UCSF labs
- Founded: 2025 by Tahir D'Mello & Brontë Kolar
Opentrons
- Focus: Accessible pipetting robots
- Funding: Well-funded, Series B+
- HQ: Long Island City, NY
- Key Tech: OT-2 personal pipetting robot, open-source software/hardware
- Founded: 2014
- Note: Most democratized option, strong in academic labs
Olden Labs
- Building out preclinical mouse model robotic system
Leading Companies Applying Wetlab Robotics
Retro Bio
- Hired the developer building PyLabRobot
- Focus on longevity/aging research
Cradle
- AI-driven protein design with robotic wetlab integration
Differential Bio
- Listed as a leading player
Tier 2 - Cloud Labs (Remote Access)
Emerald Cloud Lab (ECL)
- Focus: Fully virtualized cloud lab
- Funding: $13.5M+ (Founders Fund, Max Levchin, Peter Thiel)
- HQ: Texas (700% larger facility as of 2023)
- Key Tech: Remote execution of wet lab experiments without physical presence
- Claim: 46,620 analytical samples/year vs 8,880 in traditional labs
Strateos (formerly Transcriptic)
- Focus: On-demand cloud lab for drug discovery
- Funding: $56M
- HQ: San Diego
- Key Tech: SmartLab platform, 100+ instruments, 5M+ compound storage
- Partners: Eli Lilly ($90M investment)
- Note: Pivoted to private on-premises model; sold San Diego lab to Arctoris
Arctoris
- Focus: Remote automated drug discovery
- HQ: Oxford & Boston
- Key Tech: 24/7 robotic experiment execution
- Partners: Insilico Medicine, acquired Eli Lilly's San Diego robotic lab
- Founded: 2016
Tier 3 - Synthetic Biology Foundries
Ginkgo Bioworks
- Focus: Cell programming platform / "organism company"
- Status: Public company (NYSE: DNA)
- HQ: Boston
- Key Tech: Massive automated foundry, AI models for protein design, acquired Zymergen ($300M)
- Customers: Enterprise partnerships across pharma, agriculture, industrial
- Note: Positioning as "OpenAI of biotech" with API for synthetic biology
Tier 4 - Cell Therapy Manufacturing
Multiply Labs
- Focus: Robotic manufacturing for cell therapies
- Funding: $41.3M over 7 rounds
- HQ: San Francisco
- Key Tech: Reduces cell therapy dose cost from $100K to $25-35K (70% reduction)
- Customers: Kyverna Therapeutics, Legend Biotech
- Founded: 2016
Cellares
- Focus: IDMO (Integrated Development & Manufacturing Org) for cell therapy
- HQ: South San Francisco
- Key Tech: cGMP platform with automation + software for production/QC
- Founded: 2019
Ori Biotech
- Focus: Cell & gene therapy manufacturing platform
- Key Tech: Platform for personalized lifesaving treatment production
Cellular Origins
- Focus: Cell therapy manufacturing automation
Tier 5 - Self-Driving Labs / AI-Drug Discovery
Recursion Pharmaceuticals
- Focus: AI-driven drug discovery with automated wet lab
- Status: Public, merged with Exscientia (2025)
- Partners: Bayer ($1B+ potential deal)
Kebotix
- Focus: Self-driving lab combining ML + physical modeling + automation
- Founded: 2017 by Alán Aspuru-Guzik (Harvard)
Insitro
- Focus: ML-driven drug discovery with automated biology
- HQ: South San Francisco
- Founded: by Daphne Koller
Tier 6 - Established Automation Vendors
Hamilton Company
- Focus: Liquid handling workstations
- Key Products: VENUS software, automated liquid handling platforms
- Note: Industry standard for high-throughput labs
Tecan
- Focus: Lab automation platforms
- Key Products: Liquid handling systems, detection instruments
- Note: Swiss company, strategic investor in Andrew Alliance
Thermo Fisher Scientific
- Focus: Full lab automation ecosystem
- Key Products: inSPIRE platform (collaborative automation)
HighRes Biosolutions
- Focus: Robotic arms for lab automation
- Key Products: ACell, MCell, ZCell robotic arms
Biosero
- Focus: Lab automation software & integration
- Key Products: Green Button Go Scheduler, Orchestrator
- Note: Part of BICO group; integrates with Hamilton, Tecan, etc.
Beckman Coulter (Danaher)
- Focus: Lab automation workstations
- Key Products: Biomek liquid handlers
Material Science / Adjacent
Periodic Labs
- Material science focus
Dunia AI
- Material science focus
Software / Protocol Execution Layer
Benchling
- Wants to build out software to execute protocols on robotic wetlabs
Synthace
- Automation software for biologists
- London-based, open-source + commercial
PyLabRobot
- Open-source Python framework for lab automation
- Developer hired by Retro Bio
Potato (YC)
Lucas Mair Provigen
Open Questions / To Research
- Is Lila focusing on robotic wetlabs?
- Lots of Chinese companies (unknown names)
Emerging / Watch List
| Company | Focus | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Andrew Alliance | Pipetting robot | Now part of Waters Corporation |
| Reshape Biotech | Lab automation robots | Emerging player |
| MEGAROBO | Laboratory automation robots | |
| Unicorn Biotechnologies | Cell therapy manufacturing | Competitor to Multiply Labs |
Market Context
- 253 active companies in Lab Automation System sector (138 funded)
- $717M in Early Stage funding over last 10 years
- $78.2M raised in 2025 (72.86% increase vs 2024)
- Top funding regions: Singapore ($427M), US ($422M), UK ($332M)