Scientific research still relies heavily on painstaking manual work, as researchers pipette liquids, prepare samples and repeat experiments by hand. A company that has spent more than a decade making laboratory robots affordable has raised new funding to expand.
Opentrons Labworks, based in New York, has raised $40 million in a Series E round led by Avego, with participation from BroadOak Capital Partners and existing investors SoftBank Vision Fund and Khosla Ventures, according to an announcement on Thursday, October 29, reported by Tech Startups. The company did not disclose its valuation.
Robots for the lab
Founded in 2014, Opentrons makes programmable laboratory robots for liquid handling, sample preparation and experimental workflows. Liquid handling, the precise transfer of small volumes of liquids between containers, is one of the most common and repetitive tasks in biology and chemistry labs.
The company says it has deployed more than 11,000 robots across more than 80 countries, according to Tech Startups. Its customers include biotech companies, pharmaceutical firms and academic research labs.
Democratising automation
Laboratory automation has traditionally been dominated by expensive systems from large equipment makers, often costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and requiring specialists to operate. Opentrons built its business by offering lower-cost, open-source-friendly robots that smaller labs and individual researchers could afford.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Opentrons robots were widely used to automate testing, helping labs process large numbers of samples. That experience demonstrated the value of flexible, affordable automation in responding to sudden surges in demand.
AI meets the lab
The funding comes as artificial intelligence is transforming biological research. AI models can predict protein structures, design new molecules and suggest experiments, but these predictions must be tested in the lab. The bottleneck has shifted from generating hypotheses to running experiments at scale.
Automated labs, sometimes called self-driving labs, combine AI and robotics to design, run and analyse experiments with minimal human intervention. Opentrons plans to use the funding to invest in robotics, software and data infrastructure, according to Tech Startups, positioning it to support AI-driven research.
The investors
SoftBank Vision Fund and Khosla Ventures have backed Opentrons in previous rounds. Avego, the lead investor in this round, and BroadOak Capital Partners, a life sciences tools investor, join as new backers. Continued support from existing investors suggests confidence in the company's long-term prospects.
Over more than a decade, the company has built a community of scientists who share protocols for its robots, an approach that has helped it grow without the large sales teams typical of the lab equipment industry.
Reproducibility and quality
Automation also addresses a significant problem in science: reproducibility. Many published experiments cannot be reproduced by other labs, partly because of variations in manual techniques. Robots perform tasks consistently, improving the reliability of results and making it easier to share protocols between labs.
Competition
Opentrons competes with established lab automation companies such as Hamilton, Tecan, Beckman Coulter and others, which sell high-end systems to large pharmaceutical companies and research institutions. It also faces competition from new startups building automated labs and robotic platforms. Its focus on affordability and accessibility differentiates it from the incumbents.
Relevance for India
India's biotech and pharmaceutical industries are growing rapidly, with ambitions to move up the value chain from generic medicines to innovative drugs and biologics. The government's BioE3 policy and other initiatives aim to strengthen biomanufacturing and biotechnology research. Affordable laboratory automation could help Indian research institutions and startups increase productivity and compete globally.
Indian contract research and development companies, which run experiments for global pharmaceutical firms, could also benefit from automation to improve efficiency and quality.
Self-driving labs
The concept of self-driving labs, in which AI systems design experiments and robots carry them out, has attracted significant interest from pharmaceutical companies, research institutions and governments. Such labs could run experiments around the clock, explore many more possibilities than human researchers and accelerate discoveries in drug development, materials science and synthetic biology.
Several large technology and pharmaceutical companies have invested in automated laboratories, and startups are building platforms that integrate AI with robotic experimentation. Affordable, programmable robots such as those made by Opentrons could make this approach accessible to a broader range of labs.
The data opportunity
Every experiment run by a robot generates data. Collecting and structuring this data could be valuable for training AI models in biology and chemistry, which are often limited by the availability of high-quality experimental data. Opentrons' plan to invest in data infrastructure suggests it sees an opportunity to become a platform not just for running experiments but also for capturing and organising the resulting data.
Funding for life sciences tools
Funding for life sciences tools companies has been volatile in recent years, after a boom during the pandemic followed by a downturn as demand for Covid-related products fell. The AI-driven transformation of biology has renewed investor interest in companies that enable faster and more efficient research.
Opentrons' place in science
Opentrons has become a familiar name in many laboratories worldwide, particularly in academic research, where budget constraints make affordable automation especially valuable. Its open approach, which allows researchers to write and share their own protocols, has helped build an active community of users. That community could become an important asset as the company expands into software and data services.
The investor view
For investors, lab automation offers exposure to the long-term growth of life sciences research and to the convergence of AI and biology. The sector is less exposed to the boom-and-bust cycles of drug development, since tools companies sell to a wide range of customers. Opentrons' large installed base gives it a foundation for recurring revenue from consumables, software and services.
What comes next
Opentrons will use the funding to develop its robots, software and data capabilities. Its progress will be watched as AI-driven science creates growing demand for automated experimentation. With thousands of robots already in labs worldwide, the company is well placed to benefit from the convergence of AI and laboratory automation.
Researchers and investors alike will be watching whether the company can translate its large installed base of robots into a broader platform for AI-driven science, a transition that could significantly increase the value of its business and its role in the future of laboratory research. For a company founded more than a decade ago to make lab robots affordable, the AI era could prove to be its most significant growth opportunity yet.
