Insider Brief
- Reshape, an AI and robotics-powered imaging and analysis platform, has announced a $20 million Series A funding led by Astanor Ventures, R7, ACME, Y Combinator, and others.
- The funding will be used to expand Reshape’s operations in the US and continue its automation efforts in R&D for sectors like agriculture, industrial, and biotech.
- Established in 2018 in Copenhagen, Reshape’s platform automates visual experiments in biological research, enabling instant and precise data analysis.
PRESS RELEASE — Copenhagen, Denmark / April 9, 2024/WEBWIRE — Reshape, the world’s first AI and robotics-powered imaging and analysis platform, today announced a $20m Series A investment led by Astanor Ventures, R7, ACME, Y Combinator, Unity Co-Founder Nicholas Francis, and Per Falholt. The company plans to use the funding to expand its US operations and continue automating R&D for agricultural, industrial, and biotech organizations.
Founded in 2018 in Copenhagen, Reshape enables biological researchers to automate visual experiments by capturing and analyzing data points instantly and accurately. The solution empowers research labs to accelerate the pace towards scientific discoveries by minimizing errors and maximizing time for value-adding tasks, guiding microbiological research with precision towards a deeper understanding of nature. The company’s technology is already used by dozens of leading organizations including Syngenta, University of Oxford, Novozymes, and others who save more than 500,000 hours each year in manual research processes.
“Reshape’s vision is to provide the infrastructure that helps scientists truly decode nature. We consider accelerating the field of biotech R&D to be the most important problem to solve in the 21st century, and are honored to have strong investment partners supporting us on this mission,” stated Carl-Emil Grøn, CEO at Reshape. “The funding enables us to invest in our product distribution with a focus on expanding in the US, solidifying our position in a rigorous scientific environment, and enhancing our efforts to attract top talent globally. We have proven that our technology works — now it’s about scaling it and helping as many labs as possible to accelerate the biological transition.”
The group of investors holds strong expertise in deep and frontier tech, impact investing, and scaling breakthrough technologies. Astanor Ventures has helped companies such as Monarch Tractor thrive, R7 supports xwing, Bedrock, and AEye, while ACME has previously invested in Airbnb, Slack, SpaceX, and Uber, among others. All that, combined with the support of Y Combinator, Nicholas Francis, and Per Falholt, sets Reshape up for expansion.
“Biology is far too complex and multivariate to be analyzed manually. At Astanor, we understand that addressing the challenges of our planet requires accelerating the pace at which biological solutions are developed. Reshape’s combination of hardware, software, and reliable AI-ready data will radically shift the pace of biological research. The solution has enormous potential not only to increase the efficiency of millions of lab researchers, but also to accelerate the transition to a more productive AgriFood system for a sustainable and biodiverse planet,” said Harry Briggs, Partner at Astanor.
“We quickly recognized Reshape’s tremendous potential as their innovation intersects multiple significant trends: robotics, AI-powered analysis, and next-gen bioeconomy. We believe that R&D processes of the future will be fundamentally rebuilt by the foundation that Reshape is laying today,” said Christian Tang-Jespersen, Partner at ACME.
In 2024, Reshape achieved a prominent growth rate worldwide, increasing its customer base by over 56% compared to the previous year, accompanied by a strong 270% increase in annual recurring revenue.
“Reshape has a massive potential to lead the digitalization of biology. The microbiology field is shifting from a scientific pursuit to an engineering discipline, enabling exponential advancement in R&D across sectors. Reshape’s platform, which integrates biology with robotics and AI, enables a breakthrough in product development and time-to-market for essential biosolutions, marking the beginning of a significant digital transformation in R&D, of which Reshape is at the forefront,” added Will George, Principal at R7.
The investment underscores the potential to dramatically accelerate scientific discoveries and address complex and urgent societal challenges by unlocking laboratory capabilities.
To learn more about Reshape’s automated imaging platform, please visit
https://www.reshapebiotech.com/
About Reshape
Reshape was founded in 2018 in Copenhagen, providing AI technology for biological research aimed at addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges, such as sustainable nutrition and agriculture, disease treatment in a growing population, and the conservation of our planet’s biodiversity. Led by Carl-Emil Grøn, Daniel Storgaard, and Magnus Nyborg Madsen, Reshape’s modular platform automates laboratory experiments with cost-effective solutions, empowering researchers to reach scientific discoveries faster and setting a new standard in microbiology.
Featured image: Credit: Reshape
