Able Labs raises additional 1 billion won in pre-Series A funding

Able Labs announced on the 28th that it had raised an additional ₩1 billion in pre-Series A funding from Wonik Investment Partners. The company was also selected for Scale-Up TIPS.

Scale-Up TIPS is a program run by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups that draws on private-sector expertise to identify promising small and midsize ventures, match private investment with government funding, and accelerate their growth. Able Labs plans to use the program as a springboard to develop molecular diagnostics automation robots and enter the molecular diagnostics market beyond the lab automation market. The molecular diagnostics market is 15 times larger than the lab automation market and has grown rapidly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

An investment director at Wonik Investment Partners said, “Able Labs has achieved remarkable growth, earning the trust of leading Korean institutions such as Samsung Biologics and the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology within a year of its founding, with Korea’s first lab automation robot. Although deteriorating investor sentiment made this a challenging environment in which to commit capital, we invested with confidence after seeing Able Labs’ expertise and strong teamwork. In particular, we believe the team has a deep understanding of lab automation from researchers’ perspective, comprehensive software and hardware development capabilities, and strong execution.”

Able Labs said its revenue had increased by more than 300% from the same period last year. The company said, “This is an encouraging result, considering that all our business so far has come through inbound inquiries, with no marketing or sales efforts. Companies that recognize the growing need to automate biological experiments are moving quickly to adapt, as people worldwide increasingly expect work to deliver greater value and look to automation to handle simple, repetitive tasks.”

Able Labs CEO Shin Sang-shin said, “Automation is not only improving the reproducibility and repeatability of research; it is also replacing simple, repetitive tasks, allowing researchers to focus on more valuable work. We have seen in the industry that lab automation is becoming a necessity rather than a choice. More and more companies, starting with large corporations, are pursuing company-wide automation across production, analysis, and research. In particular, the molecular diagnostics market has lacked automation providers. With this investment and Scale-Up TIPS as a springboard, we will establish ourselves as a leading automation robotics company in both the biological research automation and molecular diagnostics markets.”

Able Labs will participate in SLAS 2023 (The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening), the world’s largest laboratory automation exhibition, in San Diego next February. The company plans to unveil SUITABLE, a new liquid-handling robot. Built on a larger platform than the previously introduced NOTABLE, SUITABLE features an independently controlled eight-channel pipette, washer module, temperature-control module, and gripper to meet a range of lab automation needs. Able Labs plans to step up its entry into the U.S. market through SLAS 2023.

Able Labs: https://www.ablelabsinc.com/