What PBS Biotech does

PBS Biotech, Inc., founded in 2006 and headquartered in Camarillo, California, designs and manufactures single-use bioreactor systems based on its patented Vertical-Wheel impeller technology for the cell therapy industry. The platform uses a vertically-oriented, bi-directional impeller rotating via magnetic coupling around a fixed shaft to deliver low-shear, homogeneous mixing that is CFD-validated (ANSYS Fluent, MStar, STAR-CCM+) to scale linearly from 60mL to 80L across the PBS-Mini 0.1, PBS-Mini 0.5, MiniPRO (multi-parallel), PBS-3, PBS-15, and PBS-80 product family. Products are assembled in-house at a 63,800 sq. ft. ISO 9001:2015 facility, with single-use vessels gamma-irradiated and product-contact materials meeting USP Class VI / ISO 10993; the proprietary Hello UI software supports 21 CFR Part 11 cGMP requirements. Named end users include the University of Alberta, GeneFab, RoosterBio, and the Alberta Diabetes Institute, spanning iPSC, MSC, NK, and T-cell applications.

The company sells hardware on a quote-based enterprise motion to biopharmaceutical companies, CDMOs, and academic researchers, complemented by recurring consumables (single-use vessels, sensors, perfusion vessels, accessories) and professional services including Success Bundle consulting, 4-6 month contract process development engagements, and field service/IQ-OQ qualification. Pricing is anchored by Starter Packs publicly listed at $7,250 (Basic) to $18,750 (Premium) for 0.1L systems, with savings of 39-43% versus unbundled list, plus a Credit Redemption Program that awards 1 credit per $1 spent on PBS-Mini products (2023-2026) redeemable toward MiniPRO, PBS-3, or Success Bundles. GTM combines direct field sales (Sr. VP Global Sales, CCO) with an e-commerce storefront at shoppbsbiotech.com, supported by an Applications Engineering team and a multi-channel content marketing program (webinars, case studies, posters, conference presence at ISSCR, ISCT, ARM Meeting on the Mesa). Strategic partnerships include co-development integrations with Repligen (XCell ATF), GeneFab, STEMCELL Technologies, denovoMATRIX, CellGenix, and Masterflex, alongside financial backers Avego Management and BroadOak Capital Partners (cumulative disclosed equity approximately $57.5M across 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025 rounds).

Name

PBS Biotech

Legal name

PBS Biotech, Inc.

Website

https://pbsbiotech.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

PBS Biotech manufactures single-use Vertical-Wheel bioreactor systems (60mL to 80L) and provides process development services for cell therapy developers, CDMOs, and academic researchers, enabling scalable manufacturing of iPSCs, MSCs, NK cells, and T cells.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Single-Use Bioreactors for Cell Therapy Bioprocessing

NAICS

Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing (334516), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Surgical and Medical Instrument Manufacturing (339112)

SIC

Surgical & Medical Instruments & Apparatus (3841), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Cell Culture & Bioprocess Lab Equipment (Bioreactors, Single-Use Systems, Controllers) (HLAGAIAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Process Development & Tech Transfer Services (CDMO) (HLAGABAL), Cell Therapy CDMO (Autologous/Allogeneic Manufacturing) (HLAGAGAA)

Keywords

• Single-use bioreactors
• Cell therapy manufacturing
• Bioprocess equipment
• Process development services
• Vertical-wheel mixing

Headquarters

HQ city

Camarillo

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Single-Use Bioreactor Hardware Systems: Sale of reusable electromechanical bioreactor housing units (Base Unit for PBS-Mini; instrument units for PBS-3, PBS-15, PBS-80). Hardware is sold directly to biopharma companies and CDMOs for cell therapy manufacturing. Price points vary by scale; quote-based pricing with publicly listed Starter Pack options starting at $7,250.
2. Single-Use Vessels and Consumables: Recurring revenue from single-use bioreactor vessels (gamma-irradiated, double-bagged), perfusion vessels, sensors (single-use and reusable), accessories, and filters. Purchased alongside hardware systems and replenished regularly. PBS-Mini generates 1 credit per $1 spent redeemable toward larger systems.
3. Process Development (CDO) Services: Contract process development services provided by Bioprocess Research & Development team using state-of-the-art onsite laboratory. Services include cell culture process development, optimization, scale-up, and characterization for iPSCs, MSCs, NK cells, T cells, and other therapeutic cell types. Typical contract duration 4-6 months. Supports customers from R&D through first-in-human clinical studies.
4. Success Bundles (Consulting Packages): Personalized consulting packages (Basic, Enhanced, Premium) bundled with Starter Pack purchases or sold separately. Includes remote support, data analysis, process optimization guidance, and on-site application engineering visits. Credits earned through PBS-Mini purchases can be redeemed toward Success Bundles, PBS-3, or MiniPRO bioreactors.
5. Field Service and Qualification: System installation, preventative maintenance, onsite support, instrument repair, IQ/OQ qualification protocols, software upgrades, and hardware conversions provided by Applications Engineers. Service Plans offered for MiniPRO, PBS-3, PBS-15, and PBS-80 bioreactors.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

PBS Biotech designs, manufactures, and sells single-use bioreactor systems based on its patented Vertical-Wheel impeller technology for the cell therapy industry, with working volumes spanning 60 mL to 80 L across the PBS-Mini, MiniPRO, PBS-3, PBS-15, and PBS-80 product families. The company also provides contracted process development (CDO) services, Success Bundle consulting packages, and field service to support customers scaling cell therapies from R&D through commercial manufacturing.

Product overview

PBS Biotech offers a scalable Vertical-Wheel bioreactor platform for cell therapy manufacturing spanning from 0.1L to 80L working volumes. The product family includes PBS-Mini (0.1 and 0.5L) for early-stage process development, MiniPRO for high-throughput parallel development, PBS-3 (3L) for mid-scale development and early clinical trials, PBS-15 (15L) for clinical stage production, and PBS-80 (80L) for commercial-scale manufacturing. All bioreactors share the proprietary Vertical-Wheel impeller technology enabling linear scalability and homogeneous mixing conditions. The platform is complemented by single-use vessels, perfusion accessories, Success Bundle consulting services, and contract process development (CDO) services for cell therapy optimization.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• PBS-Mini 0.1 Bioreactor Entry-level single-use bioreactor supporting 60 to 100 mL working volumes with Vertical-Wheel mixing, designed for early-stage cell therapy development and scale-up path to larger bioreactors. Used by cell therapy developers and academic researchers in incubator-controlled environments.
• PBS-Mini 0.5 Bioreactor Single-use bioreactor supporting 300 to 500 mL working volumes with a universal Base Unit and GMP-compliant materials for first-in-human clinical trials, designed for early-stage cell therapy development.
• PBS-MiniPRO Bioreactor Multi-parallel bioreactor platform enabling simultaneous control of up to 24 cultures with real-time monitoring in a closed system, designed for high-throughput cell therapy process development and scale-up using Vertical-Wheel technology.
• PBS-3 Bioreactor Mid-scale single-use bioreactor supporting 1.8 to 3 L working volumes with bioprocess control and monitoring capabilities, designed for bench-scale stem cell therapy process development and seamless transition from PBS-Mini.
• PBS-15 Bioreactor Large-scale single-use bioreactor supporting 9 to 15 L working volumes with Adjustable Height Harvest Valve (AHHV) for medium exchange, sampling, and harvest, designed for clinical and commercial-scale stem cell therapy production.
• PBS-80 Bioreactor Commercial-scale single-use bioreactor supporting 40 to 80 L working volumes with Adjustable Height Harvest Valve (AHHV), designed for large-scale cell therapy production with reproducible scale-up from PBS-Mini process conditions.
• PBS-Mini 0.5 Perfusion Single-Use Vessel Single-use vessel with integrated 60 μm PSC Perfusion Filter for controlled perfusion-based PSC cultures, providing built-in cell retention with dedicated feed and waste lines for contamination-free continuous perfusion.
• PBS Starter Packs Entry-level curated solutions bundling PBS-Mini bioreactor systems, single-use vessels (0.1 L or 0.5 L), and a Success Bundle consulting package across three tiers (Basic, Enhanced, Premium) at 39-43% savings versus component list price.
• Success Bundles Personalized consulting packages with three tiers (Basic remote support, Enhanced remote plus one site visit, Premium remote plus two site visits) that provide data analysis, optimization guidance, and access to PBS Bioprocess Research Team.
• Process Development (CDO) Services Contracted process development services covering cell thawing/inoculation, seed train optimization, 3D expansion, differentiation, medium exchange, harvest, downstream processing, analytics, and tech transfer using the company's Vertical-Wheel platform. Typical contract duration is 4-6 months.

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered strategic.

• STEMCELL TechnologiesstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership announced on STEMCELL Technologies press release for robust scale-up of human pluripotent stem cell 3D cultures. Combines STEMCELL's cell culture media and reagents expertise with PBS Biotech's Vertical-Wheel bioreactor platform for optimized PSC culture scale-up.
• GeneFabstrategicTechnology or IntegrationCollaboration demonstrated in published CAR-NK cell expansion case study using PBS Vertical-Wheel Bioreactors with Repligen's XCell ATF perfusion technology. GeneFab contributed process development expertise and demonstrated closed-system workflow for NK cell expansion at 100mL and 3L working volumes.
• RepligenstrategicTechnology or IntegrationPartnership through XCell Alternating Tangential Flow (ATF2) filtration device integration with PBS Vertical-Wheel Bioreactors. Demonstrated in joint case study with GeneFab for CAR-NK cell expansion showing 2.6X greater cell yield with perfusion media exchange vs. fed-batch methods. Enables closed, scalable low-shear environment optimized for high-quality immune-cell production.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Lonza: Lonza is a leading cell therapy CDMO whose process development services and proprietary bioreactor approaches compete for the same allogeneic and CDMO budgets PBS Biotech targets, while also being a potential customer for Vertical-Wheel systems within Lonza's manufacturing network.

Direct peers

• Sartorius: Sartorius' Biostat RM and Biostat B single-use bioreactors are the closest large-scale competitors to PBS Biotech's Vertical-Wheel platform, with comparable single-use vessel design and overlapping cell therapy and biopharma customer base.
• Merck KGaA (MilliporeSigma): MilliporeSigma's Mobius CellReady and Mobius bioreactor systems are direct competitors to PBS Biotech's single-use platform, often bundled with Merck's media, buffers, and filtration products for cell therapy customers.
• Cytiva: Cytiva's Xuri W25 cell expansion system and single-use bioreactor portfolio directly compete with PBS Biotech in cell therapy manufacturing, offering similar scale-up functionality with a much larger global service network and broader bioprocess portfolio.
• ABEC: ABEC designs custom single-use bioreactors for cell therapy and viral vector applications at commercial scale, competing with PBS Biotech's PBS-15 and PBS-80 systems among larger allogeneic and CDMO customers.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific: Thermo Fisher's HyPerforma and Nunc single-use bioreactor systems (acquired largely via the Finesse and Patheon portfolios) compete head-to-head with PBS Biotech for cell therapy manufacturing capital equipment, bundled with the company's media, filters, and services.
• Eppendorf: Eppendorf's BioFlo 320 and BioFlo 120 bioreactor systems target process development and small-scale production for cell and gene therapy applications, overlapping with PBS-Mini and PBS-3 use cases among academic and biotech customers.
• Pall Corporation (Danaher): Pall's Allegro STR single-use bioreactors and iCELLis fixed-bed systems compete with PBS Biotech in cell therapy and bioprocess applications, leveraging Pall's broader filtration and bioprocess consumables portfolio within Danaher.

Emerging players

• Cellexus: Cellexus offers the CellMaker single-use bioreactor system targeting cell and gene therapy process development, similar in scale and customer profile to PBS Biotech's PBS-Mini line, though with a smaller commercial footprint.
• Miltenyi Biotec: Miltenyi Biotec offers the Prodigy and Cocoon closed-system cell processing platforms that overlap with PBS Biotech's process development and small-scale manufacturing value proposition for autologous and allogeneic cell therapy developers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/PBSBiotech
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@pbsbiotech499
• Facebookfacebook.com/PBSBiotech
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pbs-biotech-inc.
• Instagraminstagram.com/pbsbiotechofficial

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles17 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors2 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 PBS Biotech