What Samplix does

Samplix is a Danish biotechnology company headquartered in Birkerød, Denmark, that has developed and commercialized the Xdrop platform — a benchtop microfluidic instrument producing double-emulsion (water-in-oil-in-water) picoliter droplets for single-cell encapsulation and functional analysis. The proprietary DE20 cartridge generates ~18 µm inner-diameter droplets (optimized for microbial cells and DNA fragments; >9 million droplets per lane in 60 minutes), while the DE50 cartridge produces ~50 µm inner-diameter droplets (for mammalian cells; >1 million per lane in 5 minutes). Droplets are engineered with an aqueous outer phase, making them directly compatible with standard flow cytometers and cell sorters from Sony, Agilent, BD, and others, while preserving ~90% cell viability post-encapsulation and post-sorting. The platform is validated across 20+ peer-reviewed publications and 10+ application notes spanning immunotherapy (CAR T, TIL, NK), antibody discovery, enzyme engineering, and genomics use cases.

The business model is a razor-and-blade structure. Samplix sells capital equipment (Xdrop, Xdrop Sort) via quote-based direct enterprise field sales, paired with recurring revenue from proprietary cartridge packs (DE20/DE50 in packs of 2 or 6), reagent kits (cell encapsulation kits, Granzyme B substrate kit, droplet break kit, DE flow buffer), Xdrop Surf fluorinated surfactant, and optional Samplix Service Plans on annual contracts. All transactions are quote-based with no public pricing. The go-to-market combines direct enterprise field sales, inside sales for consumable replenishment, and event-driven demand generation via conference participation (PEGS, CYTO, SITC, CAR-TCR Summit, AACR IO) and co-branded webinars with Bio-Rad, PacBio, Agilent, SelectScience, and Xtalks. Named customers skew academic — Wallace Lab (University of Georgia), Lin Lab (University of Michigan), CCIT-DK (Herlev Hospital, Denmark), Radboud University Medical Center — alongside biotech startup Etcembly Ltd for high-throughput TCR screening. The company maintains a wholly-owned North American subsidiary (Samplix Inc.) opened July 2023 at MBC BioLabs in San Carlos, California.

Samplix has received cumulative committed funding exceeding €15 million across a March 2023 European Innovation Council Accelerator commitment (€2.5M grant + €7.5M equity to be matched by external investors) and a concurrent €5M round from existing investors, on top of an earlier 2019 EIC instrument. Leadership is anchored by CEO Henrik Pfundheller (prior QIAGEN, Exiqon), CCO Trine Overgaard Østerbye, CDO Peter Mouritzen, and VP IPR Søren Echwald Morgenthaler, with a board chaired by co-founder Michael Obermayer.

Name

Samplix

Legal name

Samplix ApS

Website

https://samplix.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Samplix commercializes the Xdrop microfluidic platform, producing double-emulsion droplets for single-cell functional analysis. It serves immunotherapy, antibody discovery, and genomics researchers via direct enterprise sales of instruments and proprietary cartridges.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Microfluidic Lab Instruments

SIC

In Vitro & In Vivo Diagnostic Substances (2835)

akta.pro primary industry

Flow Cytometry & Cellular Analysis Diagnostics (HLAHAAAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

IVD Reagents, Assay Kits & Consumables (Non-instrument) (HLAHAAAM)

Keywords

• Droplet microfluidics platform
• Single-cell analysis instruments
• Cell therapy screening
• Antibody discovery workflows
• Targeted DNA enrichment

Headquarters

HQ city

Herlev

HQ country

Denmark

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Xdrop and Xdrop Sort Instruments: Sale of benchtop microfluidic instruments (Xdrop, Xdrop Sort) for double-emulsion droplet generation. Instruments are sold with software and accessories. Available in EU (220V) and US (110V) versions. Pricing is quote-based.
2. Consumables (Cartridges, Reagents, Accessories): Recurring revenue from sale of DE20 and DE50 cartridge packs, reagent kits (encapsulation kits, granzyme B substrate kit, droplet break kit), accessories (gaskets, storage films), and fluorinated surfactant (Xdrop Surf). Cartridges are sold in packs of 2 or 6. Reagent kits are sold separately from instruments.
3. Service Plans: Samplix offers service plans (Samplix Service Plans) to ensure optimal instrument performance, minimize downtime, and ensure regulatory compliance. Plans are customizable and sold as annual agreements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Samplix develops and sells the Xdrop microfluidic platform — a benchtop droplet generator that produces uniform double-emulsion (water-in-oil-in-water) picoliter droplets for single-cell or single-DNA-fragment encapsulation. The platform comprises the Xdrop and Xdrop Sort instruments, DE20 (small) and DE50 (large) cartridges, a family of reagent kits (cell encapsulation, granzyme B, droplet break, fluorinated surfactant, buffers, accessory films and gaskets), Samplix Service Plans for maintenance, and a suite of registered-user web applications (Cell Distribution Calculator, Xdrop Verify, FlowJo plugin, DNA enrichment and primer design tools). Because the droplets are compatible with standard flow cytometers and cell sorters, customers can integrate functional single-cell assays (cytokine secretion, cytotoxicity, antibody discovery, targeted DNA enrichment) into existing flow-cytometry workflows without specialized detection hardware.

Product overview

Samplix offers the Xdrop microfluidic platform — a benchtop droplet generator producing double-emulsion (W/O/W) picoliter droplets that are compatible with standard flow cytometers and cell sorters, enabling high-throughput single-cell functional analysis. The core Xdrop instrument is sold alongside a portfolio of specialized consumables: DE20 cartridges for microbial/DNA workflows (generating ~18 µm inner / 30 µm outer diameter droplets) and DE50 cartridges for mammalian cell workflows (~50 µm inner / 75 µm outer), each sold in packs of 2 or 6 with matching gaskets and storage films. A family of reagent kits supports each stage of the workflow: DE20 and DE50 Cell Encapsulation Kits, a Granzyme B Substrate Kit for cytotoxicity assays, a Droplet Break Kit and SAM Oil for recovering droplet contents, DE Flow Buffer for instrument analysis, and Xdrop Surf fluorinated surfactant for droplet stabilization. Complementing the physical product line is a suite of digital tools accessible via web apps and a FlowJo plugin: Cell Distribution Calculator, Xdrop Verify (instrument diagnostics), FlowJo plugin (droplet cytometry analysis), DNA Input Calculator, Enrichment Predictor/Calculator, Primer Design Tools, and Bioinformatics Tools for Oxford Nanopore and Illumina sequencing data.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Xdrop Instrument Benchtop microfluidic instrument that generates uniform double-emulsion (water-in-oil-in-water) picoliter droplets for high-throughput single-cell encapsulation and analysis. Processes 1–8 samples in parallel and runs on existing laboratory flow cytometers and cell sorters, sold to research institutions and biopharma labs for single-cell functional screening.
• Xdrop DE20 Cartridge Proprietary microfluidic cartridge for the Xdrop instrument that generates small double-emulsion droplets (~18 µm inner / 30 µm outer diameter) used for microbial cell workflows and single DNA fragment encapsulation. Sold in packs of 2 or 6 and used by genomics, microbial screening and antibody discovery customers.
• Xdrop DE50 Cartridge Proprietary microfluidic cartridge for the Xdrop instrument that generates large double-emulsion droplets (~50 µm inner / 75 µm outer diameter) for mammalian cell encapsulation workflows. Sold in packs of 2 or 6 and used by cell therapy, immunotherapy and antibody discovery customers running mammalian single-cell assays.
• DE20 Cell Encapsulation Kit Reagent kit for encapsulation of microbial cells on the Xdrop platform. Includes Xdrop oil, DE outer buffer, DE density buffer, Droplet break color and Droplet break solution for 16 lanes, supporting single-cell workflows for microbial screening and genomics customers.
• DE50 Cell Encapsulation Kit Reagent kit for encapsulation of mammalian cells on the Xdrop platform. Includes Xdrop oil, DE stabilizer C and Droplet break solution for 16 lanes, supporting cell-therapy, immunotherapy and antibody-discovery customers running mammalian single-cell encapsulation.
• Granzyme B Substrate Kit Reagent kit for single-cell cytotoxicity assays via Granzyme B detection. Enables measurement of Granzyme B secretion from co-encapsulated effector and target cells for 48 lanes, used by immunotherapy and cell-therapy customers running cytotoxicity profiling.
• Droplet Break Kit Kit for breaking both double-emulsion and single-emulsion Xdrop droplets to release encapsulated cells or DNA for downstream analysis. Includes Droplet break color and Droplet break solution, used across Xdrop genomics and cell workflows.
• SAM Oil Specialized oil reagent required for breaking small numbers of sorted droplets on the Xdrop workflow to recover cells or DNA for downstream processing.
• DE Flow Buffer Buffer optimized for Xdrop droplet flow cytometry analysis and sorting, maintaining droplet stability during instrument analysis and sorting.
• Xdrop Surf (Fluorinated Surfactant) High-performance biocompatible fluorinated surfactant used to stabilize Xdrop double-emulsion droplets. Sold in 1 g units for customers building their own droplet formulations.
• Xdrop DE Gasket and Xdrop Storage Film Accessories for the Xdrop DE20 and DE50 cartridges: replacement gaskets (pack of 6) for proper sealing during droplet generation and storage films (pack of 12) for cartridge storage between uses.
• Cell Distribution Calculator Web-based Poisson distribution calculator for DE20 and DE50 Xdrop droplets. Helps researchers calculate cell distribution within droplets to optimize experimental design and minimize empty or multi-cell droplets, available free to registered Xdrop users.
• Xdrop Verify Web-based Xdrop instrument diagnostics tool. Users upload Xdrop instrument log files and receive detailed performance assessments including pressure checks and in-depth functionality analysis, with direct escalation to Samplix support for detected issues.
• FlowJo Plugin for Xdrop Plugin for the FlowJo cytometry analysis platform that lets researchers gate, analyze Xdrop droplet flow cytometry data and generate reports within their existing FlowJo workflows. Available to registered users.
• Xdrop Genomic Tools (DNA Input Calculator, Enrichment Predictor, Enrichment Calculator) Web-based suite of genomic calculators supporting Xdrop targeted enrichment workflows: DNA Input Calculator for input range, Enrichment Predictor for expected enrichment, and Enrichment Calculator for actual enrichment validation. Used by genomics and gene editing customers designing targeted enrichment experiments.
• Primer Design Tools Web-based primer design tools for designing Detection Sequence primers (for Xdrop droplet PCR) and Validation Sequence primers (for qPCR verification), supporting both FASTA sequence input and Ensembl gene name search for targeted DNA enrichment.
• Xdrop Bioinformatics Tools Suite of open bioinformatics tools for Oxford Nanopore Technologies and Illumina data handling downstream of Xdrop workflows. Includes basecalling, reference/annotation download tools, scaffold merging and enrichment mapping reports, accessed via GitHub with a Docker image.
• Samplix Service Plans Annual customizable service agreements covering Xdrop instrument maintenance, uptime optimization and regulatory compliance support for enterprise and research institution customers. Sold on enquiry via the Samplix website and direct email.

Quantifiable outcome

• ~90% cell viability post-encapsulation and post-sorting
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration21 records

AI capability3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• MBC BioLabsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSamplix Inc. opened its North American office and laboratory at MBC BioLabs in San Carlos, California in July 2023. MBC BioLabs provides wet lab space and infrastructure for early-stage life science companies, enabling Samplix to conduct demonstrations and customer visits in North America.
• Bio-RadminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSamplix and Bio-Rad co-present webinars on CAR T cell cytotoxicity analysis using Xdrop combined with Bio-Rad StarBright Dye-conjugated fluorescent antibodies. Joint webinar and application note collaboration demonstrating workflow integration.
• PacBiominorGTM or Marketing PartnerSamplix and PacBio co-presented a webinar on targeted Iso-Seq using Xdrop indirect sequence capture for long transcript analysis. Collaboration demonstrates Xdrop's utility in PacBio sequencing workflows.
• Agilent TechnologiesminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSamplix and Agilent co-presented webinars on double-emulsion flow cytometry using Xdrop combined with Agilent NovoCyte Quanteon flow cytometer. Joint application note on NK cell killing assays. Collaboration published as SelectScience webinar.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• 10x Genomics: The leading single-cell analysis platform company with Chromium droplet-based scRNA-seq, immune profiling, and ATAC-seq products. Directly competes with Samplix in single-cell encapsulation and characterization, though with a broader genomics-first portfolio rather than functional flow cytometry compatibility.
• Sphere Fluidics: UK-based developer of picodroplet microfluidic instruments (Cyto-Mine) for single-cell analysis, antibody discovery, and cell line development. The most direct peer to Samplix in droplet-based functional single-cell screening and antibody discovery workflows.
• Berkeley Lights (now PhenomeX): Single-cell functional screening platform using optoelectronic microfluidics for antibody discovery and cell therapy development. Competes with Samplix in the functional single-cell characterization workflow targeting cell therapy and antibody discovery customers.

Broad incumbents

• BD Biosciences: Major flow cytometry and cell sorting incumbent (FACSAria, FACSDiscover) with broad single-cell and immunology reagent portfolios. Both a competitor (flow-based single-cell workflows) and integration partner (BD antibodies listed as Xdrop-compatible).
• Bio-Rad Laboratories: Droplet-based digital PCR pioneer (QX200/QX600) and life science tools provider with the S3e cell sorter. Overlaps with Samplix on droplet-based workflows and is also an integration partner via co-marketed webinars on CAR T cytotoxicity workflows.
• Standard BioTools (formerly Fluidigm): Established mass cytometry and single-cell genomics platform provider (Hyperion, CyTOF, Biomark). Competes in single-cell biology research broadly, including functional immune profiling workflows relevant to Samplix's immunotherapy segment.
• Sony Biotechnology: Manufacturer of high-end flow cytometers and cell sorters (MA900, SH800) used as downstream analysis instruments for Xdrop droplets. Both an integration/validation partner and a potential competitor if Sony expanded into upstream sample prep.

Emerging players

• Mission Bio: Single-cell DNA sequencing and multi-omics platform (Tapestri) focused on genomics applications including cancer and CRISPR editing. Overlaps with Samplix's genomics use cases but addresses different analytical endpoints (DNA mutations vs. functional phenotypes).
• Dolomite Bio (part of Blacktrace): Droplet microfluidics specialist with single-cell encapsulation instruments (Nadia, μEncapsulator) and the scRNA-seq-on-droplets workflow. Competes with Samplix in research-grade droplet generation, though with a genomics-centric focus.
• Parse Biosciences: Scalable single-cell RNA-seq platform (Evercode) competing in research single-cell applications. Overlaps with Samplix's genomics customer segment though focused on transcriptome-scale rather than functional phenotypic screening.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/samplix-aps

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors3 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 Samplix