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Volta is transforming the way biological research and analyses are performed, allowing scientists to focus on what they do best -- pushing the boundaries of biology.\r\n\r\nAs a collective of scientists and builders working at the intersection of engineering and biology, we imagine a world where extracting vital information from biological samples is as simple as pressing a button. That's our vision, and we're turning it into reality.\r\n\r\nOur HQ is in Boston’s Seaport, where we develop and manufacture our technology. We believe in cross-functional collaboration and continuous learning – whether your interest is in biology, MechEng, CompEng, or simply joining a fast-growing startup striving to make the world a better place, we'd love to welcome you to our team. Check out some of our blog posts to learn more about work life at Volta. ", "one_liner": "Unlocking the utility of genomics for the world.", "team_size": 50, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Industrial Bio", "launched_at": 1607278601, "tags": [ "Hard Tech", "Hardware", "Robotics", "Genomics", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": true, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Winter 2019", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Industrial Bio" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Growth", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": [ { "question": "Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.\n", "answer": "We build Integrated circuits for biology workflows" }, { "question": "What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.\n", "answer": "A high throughput automation system for Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) sample preparation using digital microfluidic chip technology." } ], "question_answers": [ { "question": "How did your company get started? (i.e., How did the founders meet? How did you come up with the idea? How did you decide to be a founder?)", "answer": "In 2018, Volta Labs was born in the halls of MIT with a clear mission: to unlock the utility of genomics for the world.\\\\Previously nestled in the vibrant hub of Kendall Square, known as \"the most innovative square mile on the planet,\" we quickly became immersed in the dynamic biotech culture. After numerous conversations with other scientists and hours of research, we discovered that trailblazing biologists were being held back by the constraints of existing automation tools, particularly in the realm of DNA sequencing. While DNA readout technologies surged ahead, the upstream steps of sample preparation (sample prep) lagged behind.\\\\During Founder Udayan Umapathi’s graduate stint at the MIT Media Lab, what began as a humble printed circuit board to manipulate colorful droplets soon evolved into a solutionfor the notorious \"sample prep bottleneck.\" Propelled into action, we secured funding from top-tier VCs and got to work." }, { "question": "What's the history of your company from getting started until the present day? What were the big inflection points?", "answer": "Since the company was funded coming our YC in Winter 2019, our focus has been laser-sharp in the lab, where we've been busy inventing and constructing groundbreaking fluidic and sample manipulation technologies. We embrace an anti-disciplinary approach, tackling the toughest challenges by seamlessly integrating instrumentation, fluidics, software, biology, and chemistry. While we're currently channelling our energies into sequencing sample prep, our grand vision extends beyond – envisioning a future where a single universal machine automates the lion's share of biological workflows in genomics, proteomics, and synthetic biology.\\\\At Volta, we're not just shaping the future of genomics; we're engineering it. Join us in harnessing the power of biology and technology to change the world." }, { "question": "What is the core problem you are solving? Why is this a big problem? What made you decide to work on it?", "answer": "We are in the midst of a genomic revolution. From 1999 to 2000, the Human Genome Project generated the first “draft” human genome, which cost \\~$300 million across 20 labs worldwide. It took another three years, and hundreds of millions of dollars, to produce a human genome that was \\~90% complete, as complete as the technologies for sequencing DNA allowed at the time. In 2023, a scientist can sequence a genome at a bench for hundreds of dollars in a day. The adoption of sequencing technologies across new applications only continues to accelerate as it becomes easier, faster, and cheaper. \\\\Despite these advancements, preparing samples for sequencing remains a significant bottleneck. We believe that disruptive innovations are needed in sample prep to unlock the true utility of genomics. With the new reality of the $200 genome (sequencing cost alone), sample prep is becoming a more significant burden on labs than ever before. " } ], "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/volta-labs-inc", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2019/volta-labs-inc.json", "year_founded": 2018, "city": "Boston", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/volta-labs-inc", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/voltalabsinc", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/volta-labs-a9c8", "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/373e91d473569c304899f7cec638ddc0b46d10d6.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [ "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/b174dc71f1ac1b5b04ae4d55f5100d5bef2f19b8.png", "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/7bb2e9324a7753b95d0c687a8a5d98b14165bf0a.png" ], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 11802, "full_name": "Udayan Umapathi", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "As the founder and CEO of Volta Labs, Inc., I have over five years of experience in creating and scaling a company that is transforming the field of sequencing sample prep. With a background in entrepreneurship, engineering, design and biology, I have a unique perspective and skill set that enables me to bridge the gap between different disciplines and domains.\n\nAt Volta Labs, we are building a disruptive product that streamlines the entire process of preparing samples for any sequencing technol", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "http://linkedin.com/in/udayanu/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/uday1489", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/e36948027c0c8b60f053b0afec83af2bc19a7b3f.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [ { "title": "Volta Labs Launches Electrowetting-Based Automated NGS Sample Prep Platform | GenomeWeb", "url": "https://www.genomeweb.com/sequencing/volta-labs-launches-electrowetting-based-automated-ngs-sample-prep-platform", "date": "Feb 07, 2024" }, { "title": "Volta Labs and Integrated DNA Technologies Partner to Advance Target Enrichment Workflows", "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/volta-labs-and-integrated-dna-technologies-partner-to-advance-target-enrichment-workflows-302052365.html?tc=eml_cleartime", "date": "Feb 06, 2024" }, { "title": "Volta Labs and Watchmaker Genomics Partner to Simplify and Optimize NGS Library Prep", "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/volta-labs-and-watchmaker-genomics-partner-to-simplify-and-optimize-ngs-library-prep-302052367.html?tc=eml_cleartime", "date": "Feb 05, 2024" }, { "title": "Volta Labs Launches Callisto to Revolutionize Genomics and Sample Prep", "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/volta-labs-launches-callisto-to-revolutionize-genomics-and-sample-prep-302049915.html", "date": "Feb 01, 2024" }, { "title": "Volta Labs grabs $20 million to address a growing genomics bottleneck – TechCrunch", "url": "https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/18/volta-labs-grabs-20-million-to-address-a-growing-genomics-bottleneck/", "date": "Mar 18, 2022" } ], "launches": [ { "id": 78341, "title": "Volta Labs - A genomics applications company revolutionizing sample prep", "tagline": "Unlocking the utility of genomics for the world", "body": "**_tl;dr_** - Volta Labs introduces Callisto, a groundbreaking genomics sample preparation system. With its push-button simplicity, Callisto transforms sample prep unlike anything else in the past 15 years, offering a revolutionary and hands-free experience. Checkout the [**_product here._**](https://www.voltalabs.com/product)\n\n[Volta Labs](https://www.voltalabs.com/product) is a group of antidisciplinary scientists and builders working at the intersection of engineering and biology. With the release of Callisto, we brought to life a sequencer agnostic platform that spans from the raw biological sample to sequenceable molecules. We have done this by reinventing the full stack — hardware, software, chemistry, and biology. At Volta, we’re not just shaping the future of genomics, we are engineering it.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=78341&key=user_uploads/11802/3c27fa33-e647-497c-997f-4c09284f47b6)\n\n\\\n[🤔](https://emojipedia.org/thinking-face) **The Problem** \n\nGenomic sequencing has made remarkable strides since its inception in 1990, with continuous advancements in both sequencing and data analysis over the past three decades. However, the process of preparing samples for sequencing has seen limited innovation during this time. Despite the tremendous progress in sequencing technologies, the sample preparation phase remains a bottleneck, often taking multiple days and requiring skilled lab technicians and expensive instruments.\n\n**✅ The Solution - The CallistoTM Sample Prep System**\n\nAt Volta, we aim to reduce time and complexity with the introduction of our flagship product, Callisto – a benchtop instrument with many pre-optimized applications that reduces operational requirements and costs in the laboratory and clinic that were previously cost-prohibitive. This innovation addresses the longstanding challenges that have hindered efficiency and accessibility in genomics, making it a game-changer for the industry.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=78341&key=user_uploads/11802/ae8be7a4-5028-465f-a3f4-ea4d05dabc30)\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=78341&key=user_uploads/11802/da90f1f1-fd22-49a5-b025-5814ed501736)\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=78341&key=user_uploads/11802/c2fd28d3-6988-410b-a677-d20a6f0c1eae)\n\n**✨ Benefits**\n\nCallisto is set to revolutionize laboratories, seamlessly combining efficient nucleic acid extraction with push-button library creation. Explore some of the many advantages that Callisto introduces to the field of genomics sequencing:\n\n* Can be operated without specialized training and takes minutes to set up\n* Sequencer agnostic\n* All-in-one, benchtop solution that allows users to press start and walk away\n* Speeds up and simplifies both short- and long-read sequencing preparations\n* Out of the box, pre-optimized applications\n\n\n\n🤝 **Our Ask**\n\n* **Connect us with companies and individuals in life sciences and beyond.** Feel free to connect on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/udayanu) or [send me an email directly](mailto:hello@voltalabs.co)\n* Volta is growing fast and looking for talented engineers as we ramp up production - software, mechanical and electrical. **Our immediate need is for a Software Engineering Lead, Electrical Lead and a Head of Manufacturing.**  [Apply here](https://www.voltalabs.com/careers) or [send me an email](https://hello@voltalabs.co) directly if you want to refer a friend.", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/KNZ-volta-labs-a-genomics-applications-company-revolutionizing-sample-prep", "votes": 4, "created_at": "2024-02-12T03:20:46.409Z" } ] }, { "id": 12241, "name": "Shiok Meats", "slug": "shiok-meats", "former_names": [ "Shiok Meats Pte. Ltd." ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/c596ab097b07f2b61484b9d5c2369c702ed12d68.png", "website": "http://www.shiokmeats.com", "all_locations": "Singapore, Singapore", "long_description": "Shiok Meats is a cell-based clean meat company, exclusively working on seafood. Shiok Meats is the first cell-based meat company in Singapore and SE Asia and we employ cellular agriculture to grow seafood meat in the laboratory using cells instead of animals. Shiok in Singapore English slang means fantastic and enjoyable. Our meats are animal-, health- and environment-friendly with the same taste, texture and nutrients, but no cruelty. Our mission is to bring delicious and healthy meat by harvesting from cells instead of animals. ", "one_liner": "Shiok Meats is a cell-based clean shrimp company, the first of its…", "team_size": 9, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Industrial Bio", "launched_at": 1543948524, "tags": [ "Climate", "Cultivated Meat" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Winter 2019", "status": "Acquired", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Industrial Bio" ], "regions": [ "Singapore", "Southeast Asia" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/shiok-meats", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2019/shiok-meats.json", "year_founded": 2018, "city": "Singapore", "country": "SG", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/shiokmeats/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/shiokmeats", "fb_url": "https://www.facebook.com/shiokmeats/", "cb_url": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/shiok-meats", "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/c596ab097b07f2b61484b9d5c2369c702ed12d68.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 278196, "full_name": "Ling Ka Yi", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Dr. Ling Ka Yi, Founder of Sustainable Kalture, is a seasoned developmental and stem cell biologist with over a decade of expertise in stem cell research and five years of management experience. A recipient of A*STAR’s National Science Scholarship, Ka Yi earned her Bachelor’s and PhD degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, collaborating with experts like James Thomson, Davor Solter, and Barbara Knowles. Driven by a passion for merging biotech research with a love for food, Ka Yi co-fou", "is_active": false, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/ka-yi-ling-phd-66291576/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/drkyling", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/ca2a8191cf258cb9a124ea5aae75af74121232f0.jpg" }, { "user_id": 276174, "full_name": "Sandhya Sriram", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": null, "is_active": false, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyasriram/", "x_url": null, "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/677fceada8ccdde4c74166e24249857ae20dafab.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [] }, { "id": 12531, "name": "Shiru", "slug": "shiru", "former_names": [ "Shiru Bio" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/96f8b3ffa1e973f19d7d140a20c5160d4529a01e.png", "website": "https://www.shiru.com/", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA; Emeryville, CA, USA", "long_description": "", "one_liner": "Shiru leverages ML to create proteins to feed the world sustainably. 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However, the high price of synthesizing DNA remains a major bottleneck for adoption of this promising storage solution. We are pioneering new approaches to synthesizing DNA for data storage with enzymes and custom digital codecs. We are building an interdisciplinary team to build the world's most scalable information infrastructure in DNA. \r\n\r\nWe seek technical experts in enzyme engineering, chemistry, hardware engineering, and information theory. We also seek business development to identify emerging markets for early use cases of our technology.", "one_liner": "Using DNA to store data.", "team_size": 3, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Industrial Bio", "launched_at": 1556764621, "tags": [ "Genomics", "Nanotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2019", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Industrial Bio" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/kern-systems", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2019/kern-systems.json", "year_founded": null, "city": "Boston", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/960f475f7529b916c176fbf83565873d60242a91.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 208492, "full_name": "Henry Lee", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Interested in deep-tech. 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Specifically, we have harnessed the power of one of Nature's smallest but most powerful technologies: enzymes. Enzymes are everywhere. They break down the food in your stomach, remove dirt from your clothes, and make our beer. At BluumBio, we look for enzymes found in bacteria, algae, plants and other living organisms that naturally degrade toxic chemicals. 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Targeting the $700 billion dairy market and $22 billion alternate dairy market with UnReal Milk - which could be converted into butter, cheese, ice-creams etc. and has taste and texture exactly like conventional dairy - unlike any of the plant based milks like oat milk or soy milk. Also, no animal cruelty and 82% lower carbon foot-print!\r\n\r\nUsing the same technology, they have also created real human milk targeting the $80 billion infant formula market. 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His experience as a vegetarian and his spouse's struggle with milk during pregnancy led him to UnReal Milk - leveraging his synthetic biology education, Bio-design training at Stanford and several years of business experience.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/sohail-gupta-b4226412/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/318614ce94883053324cd45843d019323b28fb51.jpg" }, { "user_id": 739401, "full_name": "Avhijeet Kapoor", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "A passionate bioengineer, always eager to tackle tech hurdles and challenge dogma! \nTrained in Biotechnology with minors in Computer Science at IIT Delhi; worked at Harvard and CEA Paris; and experienced with control systems and reactor design for robust bioprocess systems.\nHas additional experience in business consulting for food and healthcare companies such as Epigamia, Novartis, Milkbasket etc., along with a rich perspective on understanding end consumers.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/avhijeet-kapoor-b68b2210", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/35ac08150656d2841490a53da7ad95f9b2f9e850.jpg" }, { "user_id": 859209, "full_name": "Bhavna Tandon", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "A graduate of Rice University and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi; molecular biology and biochemistry PhD with 3+ years experience working as a scientist on cell culture and model organisms; 6 published papers in internationally recognized journals; passionate about leveraging technology to combat climate change", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhavna-tandon/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/b2cab91fff753cc11af6c5b755e241fa8549ff7e.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [ { "title": "First Lab-Grown Whole Cow’s Milk To Debut In The U.S.", "url": "https://www.forbes.com/sites/daphneewingchow/2025/02/24/first-lab-grown-whole-cows-milk-to-debut-in-the-us/", "date": "Feb 24, 2025" }, { "title": "Brown Foods ushers in new age of dairy, raises a ‘latte’ money for cowless cow’s milk – TechCrunch", "url": "https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/09/brown-foods-seed-milk/", "date": "Jun 09, 2022" }, { "title": "This startup is milking cow cells in a lab for animal-free dairy", "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/90743975/this-startup-is-milking-cow-cells-in-lab-for-animal-free-dairy", "date": "Apr 25, 2022" } ], "launches": [ { "id": 98944, "title": "🍼 👶 Brown Foods: ‘Real’ Human Milk without any breast feeding!🥛", "tagline": "Using mammalian cell culture, AI enabled to create complex natural products like cow milk and human milk now!", "body": "**Have you experienced any problems with breast feeding? Or do you have any concerns with infant formulas? We would like to understand your concerns as we are creating real human milk using biotechnology. Please share your contact info [here](https://forms.gle/gy64yfLuJ1MtnfmD8) and we will connect to schedule a quick 20 mins call to understand your concerns.**\n\n### **UnReal Human Milk! 🍼 👶**\n\n> **_Why? - Lactation Issues in Women are at an all-time High!_**\n\nEvery year around 85 million women globally struggle with breast feeding in some way or the other. The existing infant formulas are largely based on cow milk which naturally lacks several essential components of human milk like lactoferrin, HMOs etc. which are critical for the nutrition of the baby. Recently there was one of the biggest recalls in history of infant formula in Dec 2025, with a similar recall in US in 2022 which led to sudden shortage of infant formulas and left parents extremely worried and vulnerable. To circumvent such incidents we need more clean-label innovation in this space to create better and more robust solutions for infant nutrition.\n\n> **_What and How? - Harnessing Biology Responsibly!_**\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=98944&key=user_uploads/215532/88fc5eaf-d775-43a4-86a0-104692179c41)\n\n🚀 🚀 **Huge** **Breakthrough** - **We have been able to secrete Real Human Milk in lab!!!** We have validated all proteins by independent third party testing and have also tested for fats and carbohydrates to create a basic version of real human milk. By using mammalian cell culture we have designed a system to produce human milk in lab with a macronutrient focus currently. We are a Stanford, Rice University and IIT Delhi alumni team with backgrounds across biotechnology, business and innovation, determined to make a huge impact by using technology and leveraging recent advances in understanding of biological systems. This breakthrough leverages our extensive work on cow milk ([Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/daphneewingchow/2025/02/24/first-lab-grown-whole-cows-milk-to-debut-in-the-us/)) as we add this new product to our pipeline - UnReal Human Milk.\n\n> **_More Exciting Stuff! - Why should human adults drink cow’s milk and not human milk?_**\n\nUntil now we had no way to mass produce human milk so we resorted to drinking cow milk since we could keep the poor cows in captivity to produce as much milk as needed. But now with our standardised scalable approach to creating human milk maybe we can move everyone across the planet from drinking cow milk to human milk. Think human milk ice-creams and human milk cheeses - the opportunities are huge!\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=98944&key=user_uploads/215532/0b9233c8-9808-4043-83e6-e350806da38b)\n\n> **Reach-out to us** at [**sohail@brownfoods.in**](mailto:sohail@brownfoods.in) if you want to collaborate, invest or partner with us on this journey.\n\nThank you!\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=98944&key=user_uploads/215532/db9850e5-7d88-42fb-9ea4-871d78b1dd1f)\n\n", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Pjs-brown-foods-real-human-milk-without-any-breast-feeding", "votes": 19, "created_at": "2026-03-19T20:34:23.580Z" } ] }, { "id": 25399, "name": "Invert", "slug": "invert", "former_names": [ "Invert Bio" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/1e1a589d7f48cf8cc7fb3658ec8dea0855d526a0.png", "website": "http://www.invertbio.com/", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA; Remote", "long_description": "We build software to manage, analyze, and optimize bioprocessing data. 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Our ultra-high-throughput screening platform screens 1000-fold more enzymes 75% faster and 80% cheaper than traditional methods. This empowers our generative AI to efficiently optimize enzymes across multiple properties, delivering high-performing, tailored enzymes that reduce costs and enhance efficiency.", "one_liner": "Gen-AI Designed Enzymes for Pharmaceutical Innovation", "team_size": 5, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Industrial Bio", "launched_at": 1675971158, "tags": [ "Generative AI", "Synthetic Biology", "Biotech", "Diagnostics" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Winter 2023", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Industrial Bio" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/pando-bioscience", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2023/pando-bioscience.json", "year_founded": 2022, "city": "Boston", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/pando-bioscience", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/fcb2bf6569db61c3592824679114d563e4d1438c.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [ "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/8b92140b18fdff52e4594f4d25ba72725c324b20.png" ], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 875330, "full_name": "Will Cao", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Will Cao is the co-founder and CEO of Pando Bioscience. During her Ph.D., Will changed her major from engineering machines to engineering bacteria (yes, making genetic modifications to bacteria, so they can produce things that they can't before). She has published first-author papers in Cell and Nature Biotechnology. In her spare time, she is a personal trainer and a kayak and scuba diving enthusiast.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/willcao/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/cao_will", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/b9b092e4e1e2e653227fafd945625cb3359daf1d.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 69169, "title": "Pando Bioscience: Empowering Pharma with AI-Optimized Enzymes", "tagline": "Unlocking the full potential of enzymes to drive down costs and boost productivity in pharma", "body": "Pando is an AI-driven synthetic biology company revolutionizing enzyme engineering for pharma. Our ultra-high-throughput screening platform screens 1000 times more enzymes, 75% faster, and 80% cheaper than traditional methods. This empowers our generative AI to optimize enzymes across multiple properties, delivering high-performing, tailored enzymes that cut costs and enhance efficiency.\n\n### The Problem\n\nEnzymes play a crucial role in driving market growth and profitability in the pharmaceutical industries. Inefficient or underutilized enzymes can lead to significant financial losses and missed opportunities. Therefore, developing optimized enzymes that possess a balance of key properties becomes a top priority but remains challenging and time-consuming.\n\n### Our Solution\n\nOur AI model designs enzymes with specific mutations that enhance multiple properties simultaneously. These AI-generated enzymes are tested using our unique ultra-high-throughput one-pot screening platform. This platform converts diverse biological signals into abundant and quantifiable data under various conditions. By integrating AI design with advanced screening, we’ve reduced the design-build-test-learn cycle to just one month. We efficiently evaluate enzyme performance across different criteria tackling the challenge of multi-property optimization.\n\nAt Pando, we help pharma companies improve existing enzymes and discover new ones, cutting costs and boosting productivity. We are also developing our own proprietary enzyme assets.\n\n### Our Team\n\nWe are experts in the field. @Will joined the synthetic biology unicorn Ginkgo Bioworks as an early employee. @Yang spent 6 years at Harvard Medical School before joining Ginkgo. AI-guided enzyme engineering is in our wheelhouse.\n\n### Want to be part of it?\n\nIf you are from a **pharma, diagnostic, or biotech company** and are interested in taking enzyme engineering to the next level, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at [founders@pando.bio](mailto:founders@pando.bio).\n\nThank you!\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=69169&key=user_uploads/875330/303f90f4-0887-4557-92b3-47f2bd20a39f)\n\n", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Hzd-pando-bioscience-empowering-pharma-with-ai-optimized-enzymes", "votes": 46, "created_at": "2023-02-09T18:57:43.819Z" } ] }, { "id": 29406, "name": "ACX", "slug": "acx", "former_names": [ "AcX Therapeutics", "AcX" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/9bb37e7a5bced1e654bfc08df7f21868e28bd64c.png", "website": "https://www.acxtherapeutics.com/", "all_locations": "New York City, NY, USA", "long_description": "ACX is developing a new standard for precision agriculture technologies by providing sustainable, eco-friendly alternatives to chemical pesticides. Our mission is to transform agriculture through sustainable biological crop protection that increases yields while safeguarding the environment, farmers, and consumers.\r\n", "one_liner": "Next-generation biocides for sustainable agriculture at scale", "team_size": 4, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Industrial Bio", "launched_at": 1721937425, "tags": [ "Synthetic Biology", "Biotech", "Healthcare", "Agriculture", "Drug discovery" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2024", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Industrial Bio" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/acx", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2024/acx.json", "year_founded": 2024, "city": "New York City", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/acxtherapeutics/", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/9bb37e7a5bced1e654bfc08df7f21868e28bd64c.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 1676544, "full_name": "Emmanouela Petsolari", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Emmanouela is the Co-Founder & CEO of ACX and PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the University of Cambridge. Previously, she held several research positions working in immunology, cancer, malaria vaccine development and viral drug discovery (in institutes like Barts Cancer Institute CRUK, Cambridge University, King’s College London, Institute Curie France and Imperial College London). ", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/emmanouelapetsolari", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/fe0981d815a5985e4455e8444899976e07cac408.jpg" }, { "user_id": 1676577, "full_name": "Melina Petsolari", "title": "Founder/CTO", "founder_bio": "Melina is the Co-founder & CTO of ACX and PhD in Computer Science from King's College London. Previously, she held several research positions spanning digital health, robotics, technology-enable interventions, HCAI and NLP (in institutes like Cambridge University, King’s College London, National Health Service (NHS) in England and Francis Crick Institute).", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/melina-petsolari-a03915298", "x_url": null, "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/df48f52856a7187592c6c728a6e25be063a80e70.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 82452, "title": "🧬🦠 ACX – Next-generation biocides for sustainable agriculture at scale", "tagline": "ACX is developing a new standard for precision agriculture technologies by providing sustainable, eco-friendly alternatives to chemical pesticides.", "body": "Hi everyone,\n\nWe are [**ACX**](https://www.linkedin.com/company/acxtherapeutics/)! We’re two PhD’s in Biochemistry/Biophysics and Computer Science from the University of Cambridge and King’s College London developing a new type of therapy with applications in animal farming and agriculture. We have discovered a new molecular weapon to first provide more efficacious pest control measures.\n\n### **Team:**\n\n👩🏼‍🔬[**Emmanouela Petsolari**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmanouelapetsolari/) – Molecular Geneticist and Biochemist with 8 years of research experience in drug discovery and development (from leukemia, ovarian, and breast cancer as well as viral and bacterial infections).\n\n👩🏼‍🔬 [**Melina Petsolari**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/melina-petsolari-a03915298/)  – Computer Scientist and Designer with extensive experience in HCI, AI, and healthcare developing hardware and software for applications in digital health, biotech, and privacy.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=82452&key=user_uploads/1676544/c167d705-6bb6-44bf-86be-5eec9824edc3)\n\n# **❌ Problem:**\n\nThere is more disease impacting our livestock and crops than ever before - and this comes at a time when the human population is also exploding.\n\n1. Manure from livestock and extensive use of limited therapeutics for growth promotion and disease prevention in animal breeding as well as overuse of pesticides in crops\n\n ●  One billion kilos of chemicals are used annually to combat crop pests\n2. Spread of pathogenic agents that have adapted in previously used medications\n3. Failure of commonly used pesticides and insecticides has been documented in nearly 1000 distinct pest species worldwide\n\n ●  This leads each year to the world’s food supply facing an up to 30% loss due to insect pests alone, and this number is continuously increasing\n\n# ✅ **Our Solution:**\n\nExisting therapeutics are either no longer effective or have never worked to the extent necessary for achieving positive outcomes. We have discovered a common biological pathway that can be targeted across pathogenic species.\n\n### ✅ ✅ **Specifics:**\n\n1. We have _in vitro_ validation data of our therapeutic showing high inhibition and specificity in the cell line\n2. We are initially focusing on animal health and crop production due to the experimental validation of our therapeutic's effectiveness on a shared pathogen\n3. We are developing drug delivery systems that minimize toxicity and immunogenicity while providing precise spatiotemporal control for targeted drug release\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=82452&key=user_uploads/1676544/1f3bc0eb-72b6-4c8b-80d3-d3172a311f1f)\n\nIllustration of our solution. Nanoparticles carrying the killer compound (orange) infiltrate the target cell like a Trojan horse and activate drug release upon targeting our newly discovered pathway.\n\n### 💡**Key facts about our solution:**\n\n➔   High killing efficacy\n\n➔   Designed to specifically target pathogenic cells while preserving the surrounding healthy cells and ensuring no toxicity or adverse side effects\n\n➔   Highly suitable to become a platform solution (i.e., therapeutic development pipeline expanded to multiple disease areas and organisms)\n\n➔   Scalable, stable, and easy to manufacture\n\n### \n\n# 👋**Our Asks:**\n\n* Share this post with your network and help spread the word!\n* If you’re as excited as we are about this novel approach, email us to learn more about it at [emmanouela@acxtherapeutics.com](mailto:emmanouela@acxtherapeutics.com)\n\n### ", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/LRs-acx-next-generation-biocides-for-sustainable-agriculture-at-scale", "votes": 33, "created_at": "2024-07-25T21:52:31.810Z" } ] }, { "id": 29412, "name": "Ligo Biosciences", "slug": "ligo-biosciences", "former_names": [ "Ligo", "Ligo Bio" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/bd381079ddb420940e9b57512009e6b5bc73e27a.png", "website": "https://www.ligo.bio", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA", "long_description": "We are building the next generation of deep-learning models for enzyme design to slash the cost of chemical manufacturing. The $6 trillion chemical industry is flawed: It produces 20% of industrial greenhouse gases, and is responsible for 15% of global energy usage. \r\n\r\nEnzymes offer a far more sustainable alternative to chemical synthesis and have already revolutionised how a select few chemicals are produced. The problem is each enzyme takes years of trial and error to develop. Our enzyme models learn the principles of catalysis, allowing us to design enzymes for each reaction, in days not years. \r\n", "one_liner": "Enzyme design models.", "team_size": 4, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Industrial Bio", "launched_at": 1723173017, "tags": [ "Deep Learning", "Synthetic Biology", "Biotech", "Climate", "AI" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2024", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Industrial Bio" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/ligo-biosciences", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2024/ligo-biosciences.json", "year_founded": 2024, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/ligo-biosciences/about/?viewAsMember=true", "x_url": "https://x.com/ArdaGoreci/status/1830744265007480934", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": "https://github.com/Ligo-Biosciences/AlphaFold3", "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/bd381079ddb420940e9b57512009e6b5bc73e27a.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": { "name": "Diana Hu", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/diana-hu" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 1373049, "full_name": "Edward Harris", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Deep learning for enzyme design!", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/edward-harris-537837188", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/6d02ed151fb6828f9e341fd4a12eae59b64b4168.jpg" }, { "user_id": 1451202, "full_name": "Emily Egerton-Warburton", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "I'm a biochemist from Oxford University with experience in the intensive environment of biotech startups, working on everything from bacterial biofuel production to vaccine design. Now focused on designing enzymes to make the chemical industry more sustainable. ", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/emily-egerton-warburton-a70121211", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/4fd1ca272276b79309f71725f9ac77debe3b8fa4.jpg" }, { "user_id": 1447270, "full_name": "Arda Goreci", "title": "Founder/CTO", "founder_bio": "Founder at Ligo (S24). I studied Cell and Systems Biology at Oxford where I became a Google Cloud Research Innovator for my work in computational biology. Interested in deep learning, scaling laws, geometric DL, biomolecular design. ", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/arda-g-a26506118", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/f5e0fc43c349e97c738e48417637b35bb6172b26.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [ { "title": "Show HN: An open-source implementation of AlphaFold3 | Hacker News", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41448439", "date": "Sep 20, 2024" } ], "launches": [ { "id": 83137, "title": "Ligo Biosciences - Generative enzyme design for the chemical industry", "tagline": "Next generation deep-learning enzyme models for cheaper and sustainable chemical manufacturing. ", "body": "**Tl;dr:**\n\n* [Ligo](https://www.ligo.bio/) is using deep learning to design **novel enzymes** to make **chemical manufacturing** cheaper and more sustainable.\n* The three founders met in a synbio lab at **Oxford University** where they decided to take on the **$6 trillion chemicals industry.**\n* Sign up for our [**waitlist**](https://foil-barometer-dc9.notion.site/Ligo-Biosciences-Technical-Waitlist-63a62e2b0f4a4b8dbaa31ce51b572d09?pvs=74) (Big news soon!)\n\n# **The Team:**\n\nHey - we are Ed, Emily, and Arda! We are building Ligo.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=83137&key=user_uploads/1373049/1cde2313-c3fb-4cc4-a836-3dd991f69ae9)\n\n👨🏻‍⚕️CEO, [**Ed**](https://linkedin.com/in/edward-harris-537837188) — Ed studied **CS at Princeton** before transferring to **Oxford Medical School,** where he worked across three top synthetic biology labs. Ed bootstrapped his first startup at 19 in the food markets of Guadalajara, Mexico, and took it to **$1M in annual revenue.**\n\n👩‍🔬CSO, [**Emily**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-egerton-warburton-a70121211/) — Emily is a top **biochemist** from **Oxford University** who honed her wet lab skills in the intensive environment of biotech startups. Working on everything from bacterial **biofuel** production to **vaccine design**, Emily is **happiest with a pipette in hand**!\n\n👨‍💻CTO, [**Arda**](https://linkedin.com/in/arda-g-a26506118) — Arda studied **cell and systems biology** at **Oxford,** where he became a **Google Cloud Research Innovator** for his work in computational biology. Arda’s obsession with deep learning for biomolecular design began when the original AlphaFold paper was released.\n\n---\n\n---\n\n---\n\n---\n\n---\n\n---\n\n## ❌ **The problem**:\n\n**(1) The $6 trillion chemicals industry is flawed:**\n\n* This industry produces **_20% of industrial greenhouse gases_** and is responsible for **_15% of global energy usage_.**\n* Traditional chemical manufacturing relies on hazardous materials and produces **_huge amounts of waste,_** resulting in **high costs.**\n* **You** unknowingly contribute to this problem by personally using **\\~160 of these chemicals daily.**\n\n**(2) Enzymes offer an amazing solution, but they are hard to develop**\n\n* Enzymes are biological catalysts. They accelerate reactions at mild temperatures and pressures, making chemical manufacturing **cheaper, faster, and more sustainable.**\n* **Major pharmaceutical companies** already use enzymes for manufacturing a limited number of drugs but developing them costs **tens of millions of dollars** and takes **multiple years.**\n* Current enzyme engineering approaches are **limited** because they must start from an enzyme that already exists.\n* No models currently understand the principles of catalysis, resulting in a narrow range of possible reactions that can be catalysed.\n\n## ✅ **Our Solution: Enzymes Designed From Scratch**\n\n* We are building **foundational enzyme design models** that learn from huge amounts of data to **understand the principles of catalysis.**\n* The model **generates structures capable of catalysing reactions** directly from transition state models, meaning we will **expand the number of reactions that can feasibly be accelerated** using enzymes.\n* These enzymes can catalyse reactions to **synthesise high-value chemicals** used in the pharmaceutical, agriculture, and consumer goods industries.\n\n[Our Diffusion Model](https://youtu.be/_V758AisYS8)\n\n# **Partnerships:**\n\nWe are happy to announce two key partnerships.\n\n* [**Basecamp Research**](https://www.basecamp-research.com) is on track to have **1000x more sequence diversity than public resources** - We are collaborating to use their data to improve our soon-to-be-released OpenSource model (sign up [here](https://foil-barometer-dc9.notion.site/Ligo-Biosciences-Technical-Waitlist-63a62e2b0f4a4b8dbaa31ce51b572d09?pvs=74)!).\n* [**Adaptyv Bio**](https://www.adaptyvbio.com) is building a next-generation protein foundry. Their engineers, Liza and Igor, are helping to build the **data pipeline for OpenSource model** using their state-of-the-art **bioinformatics tool, ProteinFlow.**\n\n# **We’d Love Your Help**❤️\n\n* Sign up for our [waitlist](https://foil-barometer-dc9.notion.site/Ligo-Biosciences-Technical-Waitlist-63a62e2b0f4a4b8dbaa31ce51b572d09?pvs=74) (Big news soon!)\n* We’d love intros to:\n * Small chemical companies in pharmaceuticals, fragrances, food&drink, detergents\n * Big Pharma and Agricultural chemical companies\n * **Any** **other biotech** companies! Email us [ed@ligo.bio](mailto:ed@ligo.bio)", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Lcv-ligo-biosciences-generative-enzyme-design-for-the-chemical-industry", "votes": 470, "created_at": "2024-08-16T21:11:49.384Z" } ] }, { "id": 30702, "name": "TwentyTwo", "slug": "twentytwo", "former_names": [ "Muon", "Mohi" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/5be6b2304553a4bca9bfa1f2953ae02638a8d430.png", "website": "https://twentytwo.bio/", "all_locations": "New York City, NY, USA", "long_description": "AI is making biology easy to engineer. Life-saving drugs and therapies are accelerating, but so is the ability for bad actors to create a pandemic. TwentyTwo is working on the defensive stack to prevent the next pandemic.", "one_liner": "AI infrastructure for biosecurity", "team_size": 3, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Industrial Bio", "launched_at": 1753262535, "tags": [ "Synthetic Biology", "Biotech", "Compliance", "Security", "AI" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2025", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Industrial Bio" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/twentytwo", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2025/twentytwo.json", "year_founded": 2025, "city": "New York City", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/mohi-inc", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/5be6b2304553a4bca9bfa1f2953ae02638a8d430.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": { "name": "Tyler Bosmeny", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/tyler-bosmeny" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 1970485, "full_name": "Evan Seeyave", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "kurzgesagt and mango enjoyer", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanseeyave", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/8d3154cafebe2dd909cd3639d2d5f15c0758ee9e.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 92831, "title": "Mohi: Debugging assistant for AI agents", "tagline": "Don’t know why your agent messed up? Neither do we. But Mohi will show you exactly where your agents went wrong - and why.", "body": "Hey folks! 👋\n\nWe’re building Mohi, a debugging assistant for AI agents. If you've ever spent hours scrolling through 500+ LLM calls asking “what the hell happened?” — this is for you.\n\nhttps://youtu.be/UzQZlUdZ59s\n\n### The Problem\n\nAgents are complicated — tools, memory, web search, nested loops, and hallucinations. And when something breaks, it’s like untangling spaghetti. You’re stuck scrolling through flat logs, guessing which of the _35_ steps silently failed.\n\nIt's slow, brittle, and makes you second-guess your whole stack.\n\n### **The Fix**\n\nMohi makes debugging agents **_fast_**, and **_actually usable_**.\n\nJust tag key steps in your agent with our lightweight SDK (think: tool calls, memory access, context switches, decision logics), and we build a clean visual graph of what happened under the hood. Then we go a step further and show you:\n\n* where your agent last succeeded\n* where it went off the rails (hallucinated, failed tool, wrong branch)\n* and how to re-run broken steps with new inputs\n\nIt’s not just observability. It's a diagnosis.\n\n### **Who We Are**\n\nPreviously, Hao worked on AI and distributed systems observability at AWS, and Evan worked on automated testing at Google and AI evaluations at SecureBio. We met at MIT and worked on a bunch of projects together, eventually building agents ourselves and seeing firsthand how painful debugging can be — so we built Mohi to fix it.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=92831&key=user_uploads/1675765/aa1f6344-8ce0-4ad5-a5ba-0e203412791a)\n\n### **Our Ask**\n\nIf you’re building complex agents — we’d love to chat!\n\n→[ https://trymohi.com/](https://trymohi.com/)\n\n→ [founders@trymohi.com](mailto:founders@trymohi.com)", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/O9H-mohi-debugging-assistant-for-ai-agents", "votes": 4, "created_at": "2026-02-07T00:21:30.007Z" } ] }, { "id": 31441, "name": "Infera", "slug": "infera", "former_names": [], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/e31e68f847b8067b4a5a541fed968e4b0739a6c4.png", "website": "https://www.infera.bio", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA", "long_description": "Describe an experiment in plain English, and Infera turns it into a validated, instrument-ready run across the equipment your lab already uses. Infera handles the protocol logic, vendor-specific scripts, data, inventory, and institutional knowledge in one system. An AI-native compiler for the lab: one system from intent to execution.", "one_liner": "Control lab instruments with natural language.", "team_size": 2, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Industrial Bio", "launched_at": 1779916747, "tags": [ "SaaS", "B2B", "Biotech", "Automation", "AI" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Spring 2026", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Industrial Bio" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/infera", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/spring-2026/infera.json", "year_founded": 2026, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/infera-bio/", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/e31e68f847b8067b4a5a541fed968e4b0739a6c4.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": { "name": "Nicolas Dessaigne", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/nicolas-dessaigne" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 3013936, "full_name": "Troy Zhang", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Founder at Infera Biosystems. Prev. experience in Nobel Prize winning lab. Dual BS in Political Science and Computation and Neural Systems from Caltech.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/troyzh", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/d37252070c23d7b971abe014006e4abdd3d1314e.jpg" }, { "user_id": 3288797, "full_name": "Chloe Sow", "title": "Founder/CTO", "founder_bio": "Co-Founder of Infera (YC P26). Built research software and medical devices at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's, Fred Hutch and PNNL. MechE + CS at Harvard.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloe-sow", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/d783871016e75c83c0534d668a503a2fca45d369.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 102417, "title": "Infera – Control Lab Instruments with Natural Language", "tagline": "Infera turns a plain-English experiment into a validated, instrument-ready run", "body": "### **⚡TL;DR**\n\n**Infera is the Claude Code for scientific instruments.** Describe an experiment in plain English, and Infera turns it into a validated, instrument-ready run, handling the protocol logic, vendor scripts, data, and inventory across the instruments your lab already uses. One system, from intent to execution.\n\n### 🤔 **The Problem**\n\nLabs run on hardware from the future and software from the past.\n\nThe instruments are extraordinary. Mass specs identify thousands of proteins, flow cytometers read tens of thousands of cells a second, and cryo-EMs image at near-atomic resolution. These are the machines behind biomarker discovery, immunotherapy, structural biology, and drug development. But the software around them still looks like it shipped in 2003, and runs like it.\n\nWe've watched labs running \\~6 instruments from 3+ vendors write a one-off script for every experiment, stitch outputs together by hand, and track inventory in a Google Sheet someone probably forgot to update last Tuesday. Scientists spend their week being human glue between machines that should already talk to each other.\n\n### **🔍How Infera Works**\n\n[**Demo Video**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GPze4X7AeA)\n\n**I. Describe the experiment in plain English.** Infera asks the right questions, surfaces edge cases, and checks against your lab’s inventory and instrument state.\n\n**II. Infera turns it into a run, accommodating both manual and automatable steps.** For programmable instruments, it generates vendor-specific scripts, executes, pulls the data back, and runs the analysis. For manual work like pipetting, gels, hand fermentation, etc., it's the context layer underneath: which step you're on, which reagent goes where, what could go wrong, and how others in the lab have run it before.\n\n**III. The knowledge stays.** Every protocol, every validated run, every edge case becomes part of the system and checked against instrument constraints, lab SOPs, inventory, and prior experiments.\n\nThat last part is the hard part. It's what general-purpose LLMs can't do, and it's what enables a researcher to trust the output the way they'd trust a trained technician.\n\n### 👩‍🔬 **Team**\n\nHi! We’re Chloe and Troy, and we're building Infera to close the gap between science and instrumentation.\n\n* Chloe studied Mechanical Engineering at Harvard. She's been building research software and medical devices since before college (Regeneron STS Scholar), including a microfluidic device that detects harmful chemicals in household products, and has been doing research at places like Fred Hutch, Brigham and Women's, Harvard Medical School, and Pacific Northwest National Lab.\n* Troy studied Computation & Neural Systems at Caltech, where he held an endowed research fellowship in a top research lab as an undergraduate. He's published two first-author cancer papers, holds a first-inventor agtech patent, and built and sold two companies before Infera.\n\nBetween us, we've run experiments by hand, written the scripts, and watched the whole system break when one person leaves. That's the problem we're building Infera to fix.\n\n### **🎯Ask**\n\nWe're currently running pilots with Boston-area academic labs and cores. If any of these are you, reach out at [**hello@infera.bio**](mailto:hello@infera.bio):\n\n* **Academic labs and cores:** know a PI or core director in proteomics, genomics, flow, automation, or screening? We'd love an intro, and we're happy to set up a pilot\n* **YC founders with wet labs (diagnostics, therapeutics, synbio, tools):** we’d love to meet whoever runs your lab ops\n* **Biotech and life sciences folks:** come say hi\n* **Instrument manufacturers** whose customers wish the software were better, let's talk\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=102417&key=user_uploads/3288797/b9d81458-f74b-47a8-88ac-e3cf756951b9)\n\n", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Qdt-infera-control-lab-instruments-with-natural-language", "votes": 153, "created_at": "2026-06-02T15:49:42.214Z" } ] }, { "id": 35883, "name": "Halmos Labs", "slug": "halmos-labs", "former_names": [], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/093fdc6d2122e7140cab391f450941fd3922b145.png", "website": "https://halmoslabs.com/", "all_locations": "Lund, Skåne County, Sweden", "long_description": "Halmos Labs builds automated biotech R&D on the principles of validity and interpretabillity. We run research, and simulations answering open questions ranging from wetlab experiment design to full cancer vaccine manufacturing.", "one_liner": "Maximum information per experiment, minimum experiments per conclusion", "team_size": 3, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Industrial Bio", "launched_at": 1788773241, "tags": [ "AI-powered Drug Discovery", "Swarm AI", "Biotech" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Fall 2026", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Industrial Bio" ], "regions": [ "Sweden", "Europe" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/halmos-labs", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/fall-2026/halmos-labs.json", "year_founded": 2026, "city": "Lund", "country": "SE", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/144861296", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/093fdc6d2122e7140cab391f450941fd3922b145.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": { "name": "Kulveer Taggar", "url": null }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 3682661, "full_name": "Mattias Akke", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Founder at Halmos Labs. Previously ML research intern at MIT (Gómez-Bombarelli's lab) and AstraZeneca, developing frontier models for drug discovery. Published at NeurIPS on Bayesian optimization with LLMs. Research intern at Cambridge in Tuomas Knowles' group studying protein misfolding diseases. Chaired Kodsport Sverige, Sweden's largest competitive programming organization.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattias-akke-40a83219a", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/e01b9b8a380ee646dee214cd9e121e4c7102388a.jpg" }, { "user_id": 3654952, "full_name": "Linus von Ekensteen Löfgren", "title": "Founder/CTO", "founder_bio": "Founder at Halmos Labs. Previously Desk Quant at Danske Bank, building pricing algorithms and risk models across all asset classes. Conducted LLM security research at AI Sweden and quantum computing research at Chalmers. MS Engineering Physics and BA Economics from Lund University.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/linusvonekensteen/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/17a47ee26b59bf606fe75eb4b38cf5062197f685.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 117722, "title": "Halmos Labs; intelligent experiment design", "tagline": "Halmos designs experiments for biotech teams", "body": "Halmos enables biotech teams to get more out of every experiment. It reads the literature, runs simulations, and selects or trains models to optimize every step — so you extract more information across discovery, process development, scale-up, and manufacturing.\\\n\\\n\n\\\n**The problem**\\\nExperiments are slow, expensive, and most of the information they could yield is wasted. Teams run tedious trial-and-error or exhaustive screens, burning months of lab time and budget to reach conclusions better experimental design would have reached far sooner. The pharmaceutical industry alone performed **$126B of U.S. R&D in 2023**.\\\n\\\n**How it works**\\\nHalmos runs unbounded research by coordinating hundreds of AI agents, checks the logical consistency of their reasoning, and revisits arguments that fail validation before presenting conclusions to your team.\\\nZero installations, no data engineering, and no need for your own statistics team.\\\n\\\n**Tested in industry:**\n\n* **Bioprocessing:** In a collaboration, Halmos matched the best performance from a company's wet-lab campaign in an average of **30% fewer evaluations** across repeated simulations. Halmos repeatedly recommended testing beyond the permitted range; when the experimentalists eventually explored it, performance improved further.\n* **Food-tech fermentation:** For a company two months into fermentation optimization, Halmos simulated the organism's metabolism and identified a nutrient variable missing from the experimental plan. The team confirmed the finding and replanned its next month of experiments.\n\n\\\n**Towards increasingly large R&D tasks**\\\nWe start by designing experiments. From there we take on increasingly large R&D tasks until we can run full end-to-end programs for biotech teams at a fraction of the cost of a consultant — enabling new discoveries in less well funded industries like food, rare diseases, biomaterials, and agriculture. \\\n\\\n**Team**\n\n* **Mattias Akke (CEO)** researched LLM-driven Bayesian optimization at MIT, built drug-discovery models at AstraZeneca, and conducted Alzheimer's research at Cambridge.\n* **Linus von Ekensteen Löfgren (CTO)** was a desk quant at Danske Bank, researched LLM security at AI Sweden, and wrote quantum simulation code at Chalmers. Winner of the IEEE AP-S Student Design Contest 2023.\n* **Linus Särud (Founding Engineer)** has 12 years of cybersecurity experience and led offensive security at Sciber. He earned bounties for hundreds of vulnerabilities across companies including Google, Meta, Microsoft, and PayPal.\n\n\\\n**Our ask**\\\nIf you run biotech **R&D, process development, assay development, or manufacturing optimization**, we want to hear from you. **Scope an experiment with us at [halmoslabs.com](http://halmoslabs.com)** or email [**hi@halmoslabs.com**](mailto:hi@halmoslabs.com) (enterprise inquiries welcome).", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Uck-halmos-labs-intelligent-experiment-design", "votes": 5, "created_at": "2026-10-05T17:00:00.106Z" } ] } ]