SoundCell

What SoundCell does

SoundCell B.V. is a Delft-based medical diagnostics startup founded in 2022 as a spin-off from Technische Universiteit Delft, developing the MelodyOne platform for rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) in hospital microbiology laboratories. The system uses proprietary graphene-based biosensors configured as nanoscale drums that measure the nanomechanical vibrations (nanomotion) of single bacterial cells in real time, determining whether pathogens remain alive or die in the presence of antibiotics. Where traditional AST workflows require 24 hours to several days, MelodyOne delivers a 1-hour antibiogram from positive blood cultures and urine samples, supports both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, and processes up to 10 samples per day per device. Machine learning models interpret the nanomotion signal to identify pathogens (near 90% accuracy across E. coli, S. aureus, and K. pneumoniae) and detect antibiotic resistance (greater than 97% accuracy on E. coli meropenem susceptibility). The technology is patent-protected and validated through peer-reviewed publications in Nature Nanotechnology, ACS Sensors, Applied Physics Letters, and iScience.

The company's revenue model is centered on enterprise sales of the MelodyOne hardware device paired with recurring consumables in the form of single-use test panels containing patented graphene nanomotion chips, targeted at clinical microbiology labs treating severe infections such as sepsis and UTIs. SoundCell currently has no commercial revenue and is in the clinical validation phase, running a 12-month bloodstream infection study at Reinier Haga Medical Diagnostic Center (against incumbent BD Phoenix and Vitek2 systems) and a yeast infection trial at Erasmus Medical Centre, with a planned market entry target of early 2027. Distribution is direct enterprise sales to hospitals, anchored in the Netherlands for now.

To date the company has been funded almost entirely through non-dilutive European and Dutch public grants, including a €2.5 million European Innovation Council Transition Grant for the Be-FAST project (December 2023), €350,000 from UNIIQ, €275,000 from Provincie Zuid-Holland, €1 million from Eurostars for the Fast Graphs project, and a ZorgTech grant from Kansen voor West. Manufacturing and supply chain partnerships with Applied Nanolayers, Graphenea, and Lambda-X High-Tech are intended to scale graphene chip fabrication. Leadership comprises founders Irek Roslon (CEO) and Aleksandre Japaridze (CTO), with Prof. Farbod Alijani as Scientific Advisor and Prof. Peter Steeneken as Nanotechnology & IP Advisor, both full professors at TU Delft. The company has also secured the Philips Innovation Award (2024), the AMR 2025 Prize at the 9th AMR Conference in Basel, and the YES!Delft Rising Star Award.

Name

SoundCell

Legal name

SoundCell B.V.

Website

https://soundcell.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

SoundCell B.V. is a Delft-based medical diagnostics startup developing MelodyOne, a graphene-based rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing platform that delivers 1-hour antibiograms for hospital microbiology laboratories treating severe bacterial infections.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Delft

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. MelodyOne Device Sales: Medical diagnostic device sales to hospitals and clinical laboratories. The MelodyOne system is a hardware platform that reads test panels containing graphene nanomotion chips. Revenue will come from device sales and associated consumables.
2. Consumables and Test Panels: Single-use test panels/cartridges containing patented graphene nanomotion chips for antibiotic susceptibility testing. Recurring revenue from consumables as hospitals conduct ongoing testing.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

SoundCell develops MelodyOne, a hardware diagnostic device that uses proprietary graphene nanomotion biosensors to perform rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) at single-cell resolution. The platform measures nanomechanical vibrations of bacteria in real time to determine viability in the presence of antibiotics, delivering 1-hour antibiogram results from positive blood cultures and urine samples, compared to 24 hours to several days for traditional AST methods. The system can process up to 10 samples per day and is designed for hospital microbiology laboratories.

Product overview

SoundCell offers the MelodyOne as its core susceptibility testing platform, a hardware-based diagnostic device that uses proprietary graphene nanomotion sensors. The MelodyOne is designed as a fully automated system that reads test panels containing patented graphene nanomotion chips. The company is developing this technology under the Be-FAST project (Bacterial Eavesdropping for Fast Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing) with European Innovation Council funding, and conducts clinical trials in partnership with hospitals like Reinier Haga Medical Diagnostic Center and Erasmus Medical Centre.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• MelodyOne: SoundCell's cutting-edge susceptibility testing platform using graphene-based biosensors to measure bacterial nanomotion on a single cell level, providing 1-hour antibiogram from positive blood cultures and urine samples.

Products and services

• MelodyOne Susceptibility Testing Platform A rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) platform and hardware diagnostic device that uses proprietary graphene-based biosensors to measure bacterial nanomotion on a single cell level in real time. It provides 1-hour antibiograms from positive blood cultures and urine samples, supports both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, and can process up to 10 samples per day. Designed for hospital microbiology laboratories.

Quantifiable outcome

• Antibiotic susceptibility testing results in 1 hour vs traditional 24h-3 days
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 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

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Reinier Haga Medical Diagnostic Center (RHMDC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2025Clinical trial partner for bloodstream infections (E. coli and S. aureus). Conducting 12-month validation study comparing SoundCell's MelodyOne against BD Phoenix and Vitek2 systems. RHMDC also collaborating on scientific publications.
• Erasmus Medical CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2025Clinical trial partner targeting yeast infections with SoundCell's MelodyOne platform. Major academic medical center in Rotterdam providing clinical validation environment.
• GrapheneacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Eurostars grant partner for Fast Graphs project. Graphenea, based in Spain, will scale up fabrication of graphene for the technology. CSO Amaia Zurutuza leads the graphene scaling effort.
• Lambda-X High-TechcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Eurostars grant partner for Fast Graphs project. Belgian high-tech company contributing to the €2 million collaborative project for Fast Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing with Graphene Sensors.
• Applied Nanolayers BV (ANL)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 April 2023Awarded €275,000 R&D funding from Provincie Zuid-Holland for an 18-month joint project to develop prototype graphene antibiotic sensitivity test. ANL provides quality and volumes of graphene needed for manufacturing graphene sensor chips at scale.
• Reinier de Graaf HospitalmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHospital collaboration for technology validation and platform improvement. SoundCell worked with hospital staff including microbiologists and clinicians to iterate on product design based on real-world feedback.
• YES!DelftcoreOthersCompleted Netherlands' biggest technology accelerator program. YES!Delft provides startup ecosystem support including workshops, masterclasses, and expert sessions on strategy, marketing, sales, finance, funding, legal, and HR.
• Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) Berlin HealthmajorOthersCompleted 6-month healthcare-focused mentorship program for early-stage startups. CDL Berlin connects founders with entrepreneurs, scientists, and investors to sharpen business models and accelerate commercialization.
• TU DelftcoreTechnology or IntegrationAcademic spin-off originating from TU Delft research. Ongoing collaboration with researchers including Prof. Farbod Alijani (Scientific Advisor) and Prof. Peter Steeneken (Nanotechnology & IP Advisor). Access to KAVLI NanoLab and Else Kooi Laboratory facilities.
• TU DelftcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative scientific research resulting in publications in Nature Nanotechnology, ACS Sensors, and Applied Physics Letters. Partnership for ongoing technology development.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Accelerate Diagnostics: US-based commercial-stage developer of the Accelerate Pheno system, which provides rapid phenotypic identification and AST directly from positive blood cultures in ~7 hours. Closest direct peer to SoundCell on rapid phenotypic AST for bloodstream infections using single-cell-level phenotypic readout.
• Selux Diagnostics: Boston-based developer of rapid AST technology delivering next-day phenotypic results directly from positive blood cultures. Directly comparable as a focused rapid-AST company pursuing single-cell-resolution antibiotic susceptibility for severe infections.
• Q-linea: Swedish developer of the ASTar fully automated rapid AST system targeting bloodstream infections and sepsis within hours. Comparable European competitor building a hospital lab instrument for fast phenotypic antibiotic susceptibility testing.
• Specific Diagnostics: Developer of a phenotype-based rapid AST platform using volatile代谢物 sensing to deliver species ID and AST in hours directly from blood cultures. Direct peer on phenotypic rapid AST for bloodstream infections in a hospital microbiology lab setting.
• T2 Biosystems: US diagnostics company marketing T2Bacteria, T2Candida and T2Resistance panels — rapid, culture-independent molecular tests for sepsis-causing pathogens directly from whole blood. Comparable as a rapid diagnostics company targeting bloodstream infection/sepsis decision-making in hospital settings.

Broad incumbents

• Becton Dickinson (BD): Global diagnostics incumbent whose BD Phoenix and BD MAX systems are among the comparator instruments against which SoundCell is validating MelodyOne at RHMDC. A broader-portfolio incumbent dominating traditional AST/ID hospital lab workflows.
• bioMérieux: French in vitro diagnostics leader whose Vitek2 (and Vitek MS) systems are explicitly named as comparators for MelodyOne clinical trials. Incumbent with deep hospital microbiology footprint across ID/AST, including culture-based and MALDI-TOF workflows.
• Bruker (Daltonics): Major mass spectrometry and diagnostics player whose MALDI Biotyper is widely used for bacterial identification in hospital microbiology labs. Incumbent providing ID (not AST) that complements or competes with parts of the ID/AST workflow SoundCell targets.

Emerging players

• Lifescale Biomedicals: Emerging antimicrobial susceptibility diagnostics developer focused on rapid functional/phenotypic AST readouts. Smaller-scope comparator in the same rapid AST thematic, with overlapping hospital-lab target customer.
• OpGen: Clinical diagnostics company combining rapid molecular ID (e.g., Unyvero) with prediction of antibiotic resistance to support earlier targeted therapy in severe infections. Adjacent emerging competitor to SoundCell in rapid AMR decision support for hospitals.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/soundcell-bv
• Facebookfacebook.com/SoundCellBV

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

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 SoundCell