What SMi Systems does

SMi Systems (trading as SMi Drug Discovery Limited) is a UK-headquartered biomedical instrumentation company founded in 2018 that has developed an automated benchtop single-molecule imaging platform. The platform integrates three components into a single workflow: a super-resolution optical instrument capable of imaging at approximately 1.6 nanometre resolution across a large field of view, proprietary consumable sensor chips in standard 96- and 384-well microarray formats, and TALoS® — trademarked proprietary software using AI/deep-learning algorithms to automate detection, counting, and quantification of individual molecules (the SWiFT® trademark covers SMi's underlying experimental approach). The system is configured into two principal go-to-market offerings: a Biomedical Research Platform targeting drug-discovery and screening workflows, and a Multi-omic Diagnostic Platform positioned for hospitals and reference laboratories.

SMi generates revenue through a mix of instrument sales, recurring consumables (chips), fee-for-service contract R&D with biopharma customers (including two top-20 pharma R&D contracts in Q4 2023 and Q1 2025), and non-dilutive grant funding from Innovate UK and other UK bodies. The company employs 11–50 staff across its UK headquarters in Cambridge and US R&D laboratories in Washington State, and has built a partner-enabled commercialisation stack using Cogent Technology Ltd for contract manufacturing, the National Physical Laboratory for measurement validation, Medicines Discovery Catapult and the University of Cambridge for translational research, and most recently Luminex Corporation for diagnostic-platform integration.

The company sells directly to enterprise biopharma and diagnostic customers through a contact-led model supplemented by conference presence (BPS, EMMD, Pharma Industry Awards UK) and co-marketing with technology vendors such as Teledyne Photometrics. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. SMi has secured granted patents in the UK, Hong Kong, the US, and Singapore, achieved ISO 13485 medical-device certification (June 2025) with UKCA/CE marking (Q2 2023), and closed a third major equity round in December 2025 alongside prior seed funding of £6 million led by Norcliffe Capital in June 2023.

Name

SMi Systems

Legal name

SMi Drug Discovery Limited

Website

https://smisystems.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SMi Systems develops an automated benchtop single-molecule imaging platform combining a 1.6 nm-resolution optical instrument, 96/384-well consumable chips, and proprietary AI software (TALoS®) for biomedical research and in-vitro diagnostics, serving biopharma companies, diagnostic developers, and reference laboratories.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Newmarket

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Instrument sales: Sale of SMi's benchtop super-resolution single molecule imaging instruments (manufactured via Cogent Technology Ltd contract manufacturing). One-time hardware revenue per instrument placement, including early-access placements to research and pharma customers.
2. Consumables (sensor chips): Recurring revenue from proprietary 96/384-well microarray consumable chips used with the instrument. SMi trials commercial manufacture of consumables (Q2 2024), creating a razor/blade-style recurring revenue stream alongside instrument placements.
3. Contract research / R&D services: Fee-for-service R&D contracts with biopharma and diagnostics customers. Began with first external R&D project with a top-20 pharma company (Q4 2023), expanded to a second R&D contract with a top-20 pharma company (Q1 2025), and a new R&D project with a global diagnostic developer (Q1 2026). Examples include novel quality control assays for biologics production and infectious particle detection.
4. Non-dilutive grant funding: Grant income from Innovate UK (£1.9M in 2021 plus additional awards in 2022), CPI, and Suffolk County Council's Suffolk Economy Grant. Supports R&D and regulatory work but is funding rather than commercial revenue.

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

SMi Systems develops, manufactures and sells an integrated, automated benchtop single-molecule imaging platform that combines a proprietary super-resolution optical instrument, consumable 96- and 384-well microarray sensor chips, and the trademarked TALoS® AI/deep-learning software. The platform is offered to biopharma, hospitals/reference diagnostic laboratories, and academic institutions for biomedical research, drug discovery, and in-vitro diagnostics, delivering 1.6-nanometre resolution detection of DNA, RNA, protein and inorganic molecules across hundreds of thousands of molecules per run.

Product overview

SMi Systems (trading as SMi Drug Discovery Limited) offers a single unified single-molecule imaging platform rather than a collection of standalone products. The core offering — branded simply as the SMi Single Molecule Imaging Platform — is a platform-plus-modules architecture comprising three tightly integrated components: the SMi Benchtop Instrument (hardware), SMi Consumables in 96- and 384-well formats (proprietary optical chips), and TALoS® software (the trademarked, proprietary single-molecule detection and analysis engine). These three components are delivered as one automated workflow for both biomedical research and in-vitro diagnostic applications, with two principal go-to-market configurations: the Biomedical Research Platform (for drug discovery and screening) and the Multi-omic Diagnostic Platform (for hospitals and reference laboratories). SMi's novel experimental approach, SWiFT®, is trademarked as a methodology underpinning the platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• TALoS®: Proprietary single molecule detection software trademarked by SMi in Q1 2024.
• SWiFT®

Products and services

• SMi Single Molecule Imaging Platform
• SMi Benchtop Instrument
• SMi Consumables (96 / 384-well Optical Chips)
• SMi Multi-omic Diagnostic Platform
• SMi Biomedical Research Platform
• SMi Contract Research Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Detection in less than a second per sample; up to 384 samples processed in minutes
• +5 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability6 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Luminex CorporationflagshipTechnology or Integration · 2 June 2026Non-exclusive evaluation collaboration announced 2 June 2026 to assess the feasibility of using Luminex beads with SMi's single-molecule imaging platform and compare analytical sensitivity against Luminex's existing xMAP readers under defined test conditions. Initial phase focuses on research activities to validate whether SMi's technology can complement Luminex's industry-leading xMAP technology, targeting the $1.8 billion global multiplex assay market.
• Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerMDC has worked with SMi since its early days as a small start-up. SMi developed its early-generation instruments at the US facility and later installed one in MDC's state-of-the-art laboratory facilities at Alderley Park, Cheshire. The partnership has continued to grow through competitive Innovate UK awards to apply SMi's technology to infectious diseases and cancer diagnosis. MDC also presents SMi-related findings (e.g., at the 13th EMMD Conference, Oct 2024).
• University of CambridgeflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe University of Cambridge has been integral to SMi's success, with early-generation instruments undergoing testing in Professor Ravindra Gupta's labs in the Department of Medicine. Partnering with an academic group has allowed SMi to think beyond commercial constraints and find ways to answer more general questions relating to disease.
• National Physical Laboratory (NPL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSMi has worked with NPL — the UK's national measurement institute responsible for developing and maintaining national primary measurement standards — to validate experimental results from all its other activities and to ensure it is a leader in the measurement of single molecules.
• Medical Devices Testing & Evaluation Centre (MD-TEC)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerMD-TEC, based at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, has supported SMi's objectives to create a platform that is accessible to all abilities and experience. SMi completed its first formal usability tests there in October 2022.
• Cogent Technology LtdcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerCogent offers SMi world-class facilities, cutting-edge technologies and the highest regulatory and quality standards to ensure that the SMi platform complies with required manufacturing quality standards and can meet the needs of both medical and research communities. Q1 2023: SMi worked with Cogent to integrate quality management systems and create the first contract-manufactured instruments.
• Teledyne PhotometricscoreTechnology or IntegrationTeledyne Photometrics imaging systems are integrated into SMi's products, as described in a joint case study published 24 November 2025 describing how SMi and Teledyne Photometrics are revolutionizing diagnostics throughput.
• Knight OpticalminorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerKnight Optical worked with SMi's engineers to develop custom optics for volume manufacture; documented in a commercial R&D case study published 11 September 2025.
• ProPharma GroupcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerSMi worked with ProPharma to build an ISO 13485 Quality Management System that ensures compliance to rigorous medical device standards; ProPharma documented the engagement in a case study published 25 September 2024.
• BatalasminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerBatalas featured how their internal audit training course helped SMi work towards ISO 13485:2016 Quality Management System certification (case study published 7 October 2024).
• NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSMi received an NIHR grant award in February 2022 to fund public and patient engagement studies; SMi also undertook formal usability testing at the NIHR Medical Devices Testing and Evaluation Centre.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves2 records

Direct peers

• Quanterix: Quanterix's Simoa® platform is the most commercially advanced bead-based single-molecule immunoassay technology, directly competing with SMi's super-resolution single-molecule detection workflow for ultra-sensitive protein and biomarker measurement in biopharma and clinical diagnostics.
• Luminex Corporation (DiaSorin): Luminex's xMAP bead-based multiplex assay platform is both a direct competitor in multiplex diagnostics and SMi's named integration partner (June 2026), targeting the same $1.8B multiplex assay market and biopharma/clinical buyer set.
• Meso Scale Diagnostics: Meso Scale Diagnostics offers electrochemiluminescence-based multiplex platforms (SECTOR, U-PLEX) for biopharma and clinical biomarker workflows, directly competing with SMi's claim of higher-sensitivity, faster, multiplexed detection on a single benchtop platform.
• Olink: Olink's proximity extension assay technology delivers high-multiplex protein biomarker measurement for biopharma and clinical research, competing for the same proteomics/multi-omic wallet share that SMi's platform targets.

Broad incumbents

• Bio-Rad Laboratories: Bio-Rad is a broad life-science and clinical diagnostics incumbent explicitly cited by SMi as a competitive pressure point, with Bio-Plex multiplex assay systems and droplet-based digital PCR that overlap with SMi's multiplex and single-molecule use cases.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific: Thermo Fisher is the dominant life-science instruments and diagnostics incumbent, selling ELISA, PCR, SPR and bead-based multiplex workflows that SMi explicitly aims to displace; an ex-Thermo Fisher CMO (Dr David Onions) is also on SMi's investor side, reflecting the strategic overlap.

Emerging players

• Quantum-Si: Quantum-Si is an emerging single-molecule protein sequencing player, overlapping with SMi's multi-omic and single-molecule detection roadmap for proteomics and biomarker discovery, though focused on protein sequencing rather than general single-molecule imaging.
• Pacific Biosciences: Pacific Biosciences' SMRT sequencing is a single-molecule detection technology used in genomics and transcriptomics, sharing SMi's core single-molecule imaging heritage and biopharma/clinical buyer base, though focused on nucleic acid sequencing rather than multi-omic diagnostics.
• Oxford Nanopore Technologies: Oxford Nanopore performs single-molecule sensing of nucleic acids on a benchtop/portable platform, sharing SMi's single-molecule scientific lineage and selling into research, biopharma and clinical customers, but specialised in nanopore sequencing rather than multi-omic imaging.
• Singulex (EMD MilliporeSigma): Singulex's single-molecule counting (SMC) immunoassay technology (now part of EMD MilliporeSigma) is a direct technological analogue to SMi's single-molecule detection for ultra-sensitive protein biomarker measurement, serving a similar biopharma and clinical research buyer set.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/smi-drug-discovery-ltd

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 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 SMi Systems