Lunaphore
Lunaphore, a Bio-Techne Spatial brand, provides the COMET automated spatial biology instrument using proprietary seqIF technology for hyperplex protein and RNA+protein multiomics analysis, serving academic research institutions, biotech, biopharma, and CROs.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersLausanne, Switzerland
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Lunaphore does
Lunaphore Technologies S.A., founded in 2014 as a spin-off from EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, develops and commercializes a fully automated spatial biology platform centered on the COMET instrument. COMET applies the company's proprietary sequential immunofluorescence (seqIF) technology to enable hyperplex protein detection — up to 40 markers per automated run — using off-the-shelf, non-conjugated primary antibodies, eliminating the need for custom antibody conjugation. Through Bio-Techne's ACD subsidiary integration, the platform now supports same-section RNA + protein multiomics via RNAscope HiPlex Pro, a capability commercially launched in January 2024 as the first fully automated same-slide spatial multiomics solution. The software layer is delivered through HORIZON, an AI-powered image analysis tool providing cell segmentation, tissue phenotyping, and spatial neighbourhood analytics, complemented by integrations with Visiopharm and Nucleai.
The company monetizes through a hardware-plus-consumables model: capital equipment sales of the COMET instrument paired with recurring revenue from SPYRE antibody panels, detection reagents, amplification kits, and secondary antibodies, supplemented by HORIZON software licensing and professional services including installation, training, and the Access Lab evaluation program. Go-to-market combines direct enterprise field sales — primarily targeting academic research institutions, biotech, and biopharma — with channel partnerships through CROs (Sirona Dx, Discovery Life Sciences) and instrument distribution (Nikon). The customer base spans leading cancer centers including MD Anderson, Fox Chase Cancer Center, the University of Birmingham, and Samsung Medical Center, alongside unnamed biotech and biopharma clients.
Lunaphore was acquired by Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) in June 2023 and now operates as part of the Bio-Techne Spatial division alongside Advanced Cell Diagnostics (ACD). Prior to acquisition, the company raised approximately CHF 58 million across multiple rounds culminating in a CHF 40 million Series D first close led by EGS Beteiligungen AG in March 2023. Headcount is reported at 11–50 employees with headquarters in Tolochenaz, Switzerland, and a US entity in Minneapolis operating within Bio-Techne's broader organizational footprint. ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 certifications support regulated and clinical research use cases.
Lunaphore firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Lunaphore
- Legal name
- Lunaphore Technologies S.A.
- Website
- https://lunaphore.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Lunaphore, a Bio-Techne Spatial brand, provides the COMET automated spatial biology instrument using proprietary seqIF technology for hyperplex protein and RNA+protein multiomics analysis, serving academic research institutions, biotech, biopharma, and CROs.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Lunaphore industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Spatial Biology Instruments
- NAICS
- Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing (334516), Medical Laboratories (621511)
- SIC
- Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826), Services-Medical Laboratories (8071)
- akta.pro primary industry
- High-Throughput Screening & Assay Platforms (HTS/HCS, phenotypic screening) (HLAAAIAA)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- AI Orchestration & Imaging Analytics Platforms (Model Management/Triage) (HLACALAG)
Keywords
Where Lunaphore is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Lausanne
- HQ country
- Switzerland
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices3 records
Markets served
Lunaphore business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Instrument Sales: Sale of COMET spatial biology instruments to research institutions and pharma companies. The platform is a capital equipment purchase with associated installation and training services.
- Consumables and Reagents: Recurring revenue from SPYRE antibody panels, detection reagents, amplification kits, and secondary antibodies. Consumables consumed per run drive recurring revenue stream.
- Software Licensing: HORIZON image analysis software provided under license agreement with software terms governing use.
- Professional Services: Installation, training, maintenance, repair services, scientific lab services, and instrument access lab services provided to customers.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Enterprise pricing through direct sales |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Lunaphore product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Lunaphore develops and manufactures the COMET, a fully automated spatial biology instrument that performs hyperplex immunofluorescence (up to 40 markers per run) and same-section RNA+protein multiomics on tissue samples. The platform is complemented by HORIZON AI-powered image analysis software, SPYRE antibody panels, amplification kits, and detection reagents, enabling proteomic and transcriptomic spatial profiling for research and translational applications.
Product overview
Lunaphore, a Bio-Techne brand, offers a comprehensive spatial biology platform centered on the COMET™ instrument as the core product, paired with HORIZON™ image analysis software for data interpretation. The portfolio includes SPYRE™ Antibody Panels and Detection Reagents for assay development, along with enabling technologies like seqIF™ (sequential immunofluorescence) and RNAscope™ HiPlex Pro for multiomics workflows. The COMET platform enables fully automated spatial biology from assay development to cohort analysis, supporting both proteomics (up to 40+ markers) and multiomics (RNA + protein co-detection) applications, while HORIZON provides AI-powered image analysis capabilities. The company operates as part of Bio-Techne Spatial, combining with Advanced Cell Diagnostics (ACD) to deliver integrated spatial multiomics solutions.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- COMET™: Fully automated spatial biology platform for hyperplex immunofluorescence and multiomics analysis
- HORIZON™
- SPYRE™ Antibody Panels
- seqIF™
- RNAscope™ HiPlex Pro
Products and services
- COMET Fully automated spatial biology instrument platform for hyperplex immunofluorescence staining and imaging. Supports sequential immunofluorescence (seqIF) and multiomics workflows with simultaneous RNA and protein detection on the same tissue section. Targets academic, biotech, biopharma, and CRO customers conducting spatial proteomic and transcriptomic profiling.
- HORIZON Image analysis software for COMET hyperplex immunofluorescence images. Provides AI-powered cell segmentation, tissue phenotyping, and spatial neighbourhood analytics with guided interface and batch processing capabilities for COMET users.
- SPYRE Antibody Panels Ready-to-use, lot-to-lot validated antibody panels for reliable, high-throughput spatial profiling on COMET. Includes SPYRE Panel Builder for custom panel design by researchers.
- SPYRE Amplification Kit Amplification kit for enhancing signal detection in spatial biology assays run on the COMET platform.
- Detection Reagents Reagents for detection of targets in multiplex immunofluorescence assays on the COMET platform, including secondary antibodies conjugated to Alexa Fluor Plus for high-sensitivity detection.
- Access Lab Instrument evaluation and sample processing services for researchers to experience COMET platform capabilities before purchase, including scientific lab services for assay development and optimization.
- Scientific Lab Services Scientific consulting laboratory services providing access to Lunaphore's scientific team for assay development and optimization support, alongside installation, training, maintenance, and repair services for the COMET platform.
Quantifiable outcome
- Up to 40 different spatial markers analyzed per automated run
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Lunaphore
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Lunaphore technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
AI capability5 records
Feature5 records
Lunaphore partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core, supporting and flagship.
- Wyss Center GenevacoreBio-Techne's Lunaphore brand partnered with the Wyss Center Geneva to develop an automated workflow for 3D multiomics technology to accelerate spatial biology research. The partnership focuses on advancing automated 3D multiomics capabilities.
- NucleaisupportingAI-powered spatial biology workflow partnership enabling predictive biomarker discovery in melanoma patients. Combines Lunaphore's COMET with Nucleai's AI analysis capabilities.
- Discovery Life SciencessupportingPartnership to bring innovative spatial biology solutions to clinical research. Discovery Life Sciences offers COMET platform access for clinical research customers.
- Nikon Instruments Inc.supportingPartnership to expand access to innovative spatial biology services. Nikon provides distribution and service capabilities for COMET platform in certain markets.
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB)supportingLunaphore and SIB awarded Innosuisse funding to develop innovative AI-based assay development tools. Collaboration focuses on machine learning for spatial biology assay optimization.
- Bio-Techne CorporationflagshipBio-Techne acquired Lunaphore in June 2023, making it a Bio-Techne brand. Bio-Techne is a global life sciences company (NASDAQ: TECH) providing innovative tools and bioactive reagents. Bio-Techne generated over $1.1 billion in net sales in fiscal 2023 with approximately 3,100 employees worldwide.
- Cell Signaling Technology (CST)corePartnership enables use of over 1,700 IHC-validated antibodies from CST on the COMET platform. CST is a trusted provider of rigorously validated antibodies with eight of the 12 most-cited antibodies on CiteAb.
- Bethyl LaboratoriessupportingPartnership to leverage Bethyl's library of primary antibodies on COMET platform and expand spatial biology services. Bethyl provides validated antibodies for research applications.
- Advanced Cell Diagnostics (ACD)flagshipBio-Techne strategic partnership to develop the first fully automated same-slide spatial multiomics solution. Combined ACD's RNAscope HiPlex Pro RNA detection with Lunaphore's seqIF technology on COMET platform. Launched January 2024.
- abcamsupportingAgreement for primary antibody validation for use on COMET platform. Combines abcam's trusted antibody provider capabilities with COMET's multiplex spatial biology capabilities.
- Sirona DxcoreStrategic collaboration making Sirona Dx the first US-based CRO to offer Lunaphore's COMET platform as a service. Addresses demand from US-based biotech and biopharma companies. Sirona Dx provides CLIA certification and pharmaceutical regulatory expertise.
- VisiopharmsupportingAI-powered image analysis partnership. Visiopharm's software integrates with COMET for advanced tissue analysis and cell segmentation in tumor microenvironment research.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Lunaphore competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
- Indica Labs: Indica Labs provides digital pathology and image analysis software (Halo platform) used alongside spatial biology workflows including COMET. It is an adjacent ecosystem player in tissue image analysis.
- abcam: Abcam is a major primary antibody provider with content validated for COMET through a partnership. It is an adjacent content/reagent provider that expands the assay menu accessible to COMET users.
- Bio-Techne Corporation: Bio-Techne is Lunaphore's parent company following the June 2023 acquisition and a leading life sciences tools provider with $1.1B+ in net sales. While not a peer in the competitive sense, Bio-Techne's spatial biology strategy (integrating Lunaphore with ACD's RNAscope) shapes competitive dynamics across the category.
- Cell Signaling Technology (CST): CST is a leading antibody provider whose 1,700+ IHC-validated antibodies are validated for use on COMET through a content partnership. As both a partner and adjacent content provider, CST shapes the breadth of assays accessible on Lunaphore's platform.
- Visiopharm: Visiopharm provides AI-powered image analysis software that integrates with COMET for tumor microenvironment analysis (Phenoplex workflow). It is a software partner and adjacent ecosystem player in the spatial biology analysis layer.
Direct peers
- 10x Genomics: 10x Genomics is the leading spatial biology platform company, offering Visium (transcriptomics) and Xenium (in situ) products. It directly competes with Lunaphore's COMET for spatial biology budget in academic and pharma labs, with a broader product portfolio spanning single-cell and spatial.
- NanoString Technologies (now Bruker Spatial Biology): NanoString's GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler and CosMx Single Molecular Imager are direct spatial multiomics competitors to COMET. Both target similar translational research and biomarker discovery use cases in immuno-oncology and tumor microenvironment analysis.
- Akoya Biosciences: Akoya offers the PhenoCycler (formerly CODEX) platform and Opal multiplex immunofluorescence reagents for spatial phenotyping. It competes with Lunaphore in the multiplex immunofluorescence space, particularly for high-plex tissue imaging in immuno-oncology research.
- Standard BioTools (formerly Fluidigm): Standard BioTools offers Hyperion imaging mass cytometry for highly multiplexed spatial tissue analysis. It competes with COMET in the high-plex spatial biology market, with particular strength in single-cell resolution tissue profiling.
Emerging players
- Quanterix: Quanterix is a high-sensitivity protein detection platform company that acquired Akoya Biosciences in 2024, consolidating its position in spatial biology. It competes in adjacent ultra-sensitive proteomics and biomarker discovery markets relevant to pharma customers.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Lunaphore social profiles
Digital presenceLunaphore compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Lunaphore financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Lunaphore leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
Lunaphore subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries2 records
Lunaphore funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds16 records
Investors15 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Lunaphore M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Lunaphore
What does Lunaphore do?
Lunaphore develops and manufactures the COMET, a fully automated spatial biology instrument that performs hyperplex immunofluorescence (up to 40 markers per run) and same-section RNA+protein multiomics on tissue samples. The platform is complemented by HORIZON AI-powered image analysis software, SPYRE antibody panels, amplification kits, and detection reagents, enabling proteomic and transcriptomic spatial profiling for research and translational applications.
Is Lunaphore a public or private company?
Lunaphore is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Lunaphore founded?
Lunaphore was founded in 2014. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Lunaphore based?
Lunaphore is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, in the Europe region.
How does Lunaphore make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Instrument Sales are the primary driver. The others are consumables and Reagents, software Licensing and professional Services.
Who are Lunaphore's main competitors?
Others on record are Indica Labs, abcam, Bio-Techne Corporation, Cell Signaling Technology (CST) and Visiopharm. Direct peers are 10x Genomics, NanoString Technologies (now Bruker Spatial Biology), Akoya Biosciences and Standard BioTools (formerly Fluidigm). Quanterix is listed as an emerging player.
Does Lunaphore have an API?
No public API is recorded for Lunaphore.
What industry is Lunaphore in?
Lunaphore's product category is Spatial Biology Instruments. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAAAIAA, High-Throughput Screening & Assay Platforms (HTS/HCS, phenotypic screening), with a secondary code of HLACALAG, AI Orchestration & Imaging Analytics Platforms (Model Management/Triage). Its NAICS code is 334516 and its SIC code is 3826.