What Karius does

Karius, Inc. is a Redwood City, California-based clinical metagenomics company founded in 2014 on intellectual property developed at Stanford University. It operates a CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited, ISO 15189-accredited clinical laboratory that processes microbial cell-free DNA (mcfDNA) sequencing tests on behalf of licensed healthcare providers. Its commercial product portfolio centers on two laboratory-developed tests: Karius Spectrum, a plasma-based test that detects over 1,000 fungi, bacteria, parasites, and DNA viruses from a single blood draw with results typically available within one day, and Karius Focus | BAL, a bronchoalveolar lavage fluid-based test launched in April 2025 that detects over 500 lung-infection pathogens from 1 mL of BAL fluid. Both are powered by the Karius Helion platform, which combines a "Direct-to-Library" chemistry that bypasses DNA extraction, a proprietary curated reference database of 20,000+ microbial sequences, and machine learning models that are continuously refined as additional patient data is processed.

Karius sells these tests as laboratory-developed tests through an enterprise field sales motion to 600+ leading US hospitals and transplant centers, with results delivered through an online portal and specimens transported via covered UPS Next Day Air Early shipping. Revenue is generated per test through institutional and payer billing, with secondary commercial activity in biopharma services (microbial liquid biopsy for clinical trial enrichment, safety monitoring, and patient stratification). The company complements its direct sales channel with Medical Science Liaisons, diagnostic stewardship support, an Investigator-Initiated Studies Grants program, and — announced in April 2026 — a collaboration with Mayo Clinic Laboratories that makes its tests available through Mayo's ordering infrastructure.

The company has raised approximately $354M in cumulative equity and debt funding across multiple rounds, including a $100M round in May 2024 co-led by Khosla Ventures, 5AM Ventures, and Gilde Healthcare, and received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for its infectious disease test in May 2024. Karius reports that more than 100,000 patient samples have been tested on its platform and that the technology is supported by 300+ peer-reviewed publications. Leadership includes CEO Alec Ford, CSO Tim Blauwkamp PhD, CTO/Business Officer Sivan Bercovici PhD, CMO Bradley Perkins MD, CFO Bill Quirk, CCO Mark Aguillard, and CPO Stacy Aurora, with co-founders Tim Blauwkamp and Mickey Kertesz and Stanford's Steve Quake serving on the scientific advisory board.

Name

Karius

Legal name

Karius, Inc.

Website

https://kariusdx.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Karius is a clinical metagenomics company that delivers rapid infectious disease diagnostics to hospitals and transplant centers, detecting over 1,000 pathogens from a single blood draw via its proprietary Helion sequencing platform, AI-driven reference database, and CLIA-certified laboratory.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Infectious Disease Diagnostics

NAICS

Medical Laboratories (621511)

SIC

Services-Medical Laboratories (8071)

akta.pro primary industry

Microbiology & Infectious Disease Testing Laboratories (HLAFAMAD)

Keywords

• Metagenomic sequencing diagnostics
• Infectious disease testing
• Microbial cell-free DNA
• Clinical laboratory diagnostics
• Pathogen detection services

Headquarters

HQ city

Redwood City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Clinical Laboratory Testing Services: Karius operates as a clinical laboratory offering laboratory-developed tests (LDTs). Healthcare providers order tests on behalf of patients, and the tests are billed through the hospital or institution. The company processes samples in its CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited, and ISO 15189-accredited laboratory. Revenue is derived from test processing fees charged to healthcare institutions and payers. Tests are offered as send-out tests ordered by licensed healthcare practitioners.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Karius operates a CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited clinical laboratory that delivers laboratory-developed metagenomic sequencing tests on patient plasma and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid samples. Its commercial tests — Karius Spectrum and Karius Focus | BAL — detect and identify over 1,000 pathogens (bacteria, fungi, DNA viruses, parasites) and bacterial antimicrobial resistance markers from a single specimen, returning results to the ordering provider typically within one day of sample receipt.

Product overview

Karius offers a portfolio of metagenomic sequencing diagnostic tests powered by the Karius Helion platform. The core products include Karius Spectrum, a plasma-based test detecting over 1,000 pathogens from a single blood draw, and Karius Focus | BAL, a bronchoalveolar lavage fluid test detecting over 500 pathogens for lung infections. The Helion platform combines Direct-to-Library chemistry, a proprietary clinical-grade database, and AI for real-time genomic analysis, enabling rapid pathogen detection and antimicrobial resistance identification.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Karius Spectrum A blood test leveraging plasma metagenomic sequencing of microbial cell-free DNA (mcfDNA) to detect over 1,000 fungi, bacteria, DNA viruses, and parasites associated with deep-seated and difficult-to-diagnose systemic infections, including bacterial antimicrobial resistance markers for 18 pathogens across four resistance classes. Results are typically available within one day of sample receipt and are ordered by licensed healthcare providers on behalf of hospitalized and immunocompromised patients at U.S. hospitals and transplant centers.
• Karius Focus | BAL A bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid-based mcfDNA metagenomic sequencing test designed for detection and classification of over 500 pathogens associated with lung infection. It requires only 1 mL of BAL fluid, returns results within one day of sample receipt, and has demonstrated more than 50% increased relative diagnostic yield compared with all standard-of-care BAL tests combined in a study of 118 immunocompromised patients.

Quantifiable outcome

• >50% increased relative diagnostic yield compared to all standard-of-care BAL tests combined in immunocompromised patients with suspected pneumonia
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Mayo Clinic LaboratoriescoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 23 April 2026Karius and Mayo Clinic Laboratories announced a collaboration in April 2026 to make Karius's advanced metagenomic infectious disease diagnostic offerings (Karius Spectrum and Karius Focus | BAL tests) available to order through Mayo Clinic Laboratories. The collaboration includes joint educational initiatives such as co-developed scientific webinars, case-study sessions, and field-based training to raise awareness of the clinical utility of metagenomic diagnostics. Laboratory logistics are streamlined through Mayo Clinic Laboratories' infrastructure, enabling sample submission and test reporting within 24 hours of arrival.
• BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 August 2024Karius secured a contract with BARDA in August 2024 to expand agnostic detection of pathogens. BARDA is a U.S. government agency responsible for developing and acquiring medical countermeasures against health security threats. This contract supports the development and validation of Karius's next-generation diagnostic capabilities for broad pathogen detection, which aligns with national preparedness priorities.
• eGenesiscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2023In April 2023, Karius partnered with eGenesis to develop testing systems for monitoring microbial cell-free DNA in pig organ donors to improve xenotransplantation safety. This partnership supports eGenesis's xenotransplantation programs by providing microbial monitoring for genetically modified pig organs intended for human transplantation. The collaboration addresses a critical need in the emerging field of xenotransplantation where infection monitoring is essential for patient safety.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• T2 Biosystems: T2 Biosystems develops rapid blood-based molecular tests (T2Bacteria, T2Candida) for direct pathogen detection from whole blood, directly competing with Karius Spectrum in the bloodstream infection / immunocompromised patient diagnostic workflow.
• Accelerate Diagnostics: Accelerate Diagnostics offers rapid identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) directly from positive blood cultures, competing for the same hospital microbiology budgets and bloodstream infection use cases that Karius addresses with mcfDNA sequencing.
• CosmosID: CosmosID provides microbial genomics and metagenomic sequencing services with a curated reference database, closely comparable to Karius's Helion platform in underlying technology and database-driven pathogen identification.

Broad incumbents

• bioMérieux: Global leader in clinical microbiology (culture media, VITEK identification/AST, BioFire FilmArray syndromic panels) that competes broadly with Karius in hospital infectious disease diagnostics, with significantly greater distribution and installed-base reach.
• Cepheid (Danaher): Cepheid's GeneXpert system delivers rapid molecular syndromic panels (e.g., Xpert MTB/RIF, blood culture ID) used in the same hospital settings as Karius, providing broad incumbent competition for molecular infectious disease testing budgets.
• BioFire Diagnostics: BioFire FilmArray syndromic panels (blood culture identification, pneumonia, meningitis/encephalitis) are widely installed in US hospitals and compete for the same immunocompromised pneumonia and bloodstream infection testing workflows as Karius.
• Becton Dickinson (BD): BD offers a broad portfolio across microbiology (BD MAX, Phoenix M50, culture media) and molecular diagnostics. Its scale and installed base make it a broad incumbent competitor across hospital infectious disease testing.

Emerging players

• Specific Diagnostics: Specific Diagnostics is developing rapid phenotypic AST directly from positive blood cultures, partially overlapping with Karius's bloodstream infection use case by targeting faster time-to-susceptibility for hospital stewardship programs.
• Selux Diagnostics: Selux is developing rapid AST platforms with same-day phenotypic results from positive blood cultures, partially overlapping Karius's bloodstream infection value proposition for hospitals treating immunocompromised patients.
• Day Zero Diagnostics: Day Zero Diagnostics is developing blood-based sequencing diagnostics to identify pathogens and predict antibiotic resistance from bloodstream infections, an emerging peer overlapping with Karius Spectrum's core use case.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/kariusdx
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/7972561

Compliance9 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors17 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Karius