Zeteo Tech

What Zeteo Tech does

Zeteo Tech, Inc. is a Sykesville, Maryland-based, venture-backed biodefense and medical device company founded around 2013–2014, employing approximately 20 scientists, engineers, and operations staff. The company develops and commercializes fieldable biological mass spectrometers based on its proprietary digitalMALDI® platform, a time-of-flight mass spectrometry architecture using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) with single-particle-at-a-time sample processing and time-discretized sample decluttering. This approach enables biomarker-specific molecular identification from bioaerosols with as few as 10 particles, eliminating the need for culturing and reducing detection time from the 12–36 hours typical of incumbent systems to minutes. The platform can detect non-culturable bacteria and viruses, a capability conventional MALDI instruments cannot match.

The company's product portfolio centers on three layers: (1) digitalMALDI®-based instruments and analytical testing services using the company's laboratory (which also houses Axima®, Bruker Microflex LRF, and Orbitrap® mass spectrometers), (2) BreathBiomics™, a trademarked breath sampling system with chemically modified functional groups that capture lipids, metabolites, and proteins from submicron exhaled particles for non-invasive disease diagnosis, and (3) a licensing-based commercialization channel via BioFlyte, which produces the BioTOF™ z200 fieldable mass spectrometer for defense, security, and airport end markets. The IP portfolio comprises 4 U.S. patents and 12 foreign patents on mass spectrometry methods and instruments. The company also developed a COVID-19 Fully Automated Disinfection System (CFADS) under NSF SBIR funding and is extending into modular aerosol collection via a Texas A&M University STTR partnership.

Zeteo generates revenue through four streams: (a) U.S. government R&D contracts and grants via SBIR/STTR programs from DoD, DHS, NIH/NIAID, NSF, and NOAA, including a $1.87M Phase III SBIR contract from DHS (potential $5.86M) and a $1.9M NIAID grant, (b) sale of compact, low-power, low-cost fieldable mass spectrometer instruments, (c) technology licensing royalties from BioFlyte, and (d) fee-based analytical testing and R&D services performed in the company laboratory. Customers include the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security (biodefense), Johns Hopkins Hospital (clinical breath diagnostics), Boeing and United Airlines (aircraft aerosol transmission research), and indirectly Pittsburgh International Airport (via BioFlyte deployments). The company raised $3.5M in Series A funding from Anzu Partners in April 2019 and has not announced a subsequent equity round.

Name

Zeteo Tech

Legal name

Zeteo Tech, Inc.

Website

https://zeteotech.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Zeteo Tech is a Sykesville, Maryland biodefense and medical device company that develops digitalMALDI® time-of-flight mass spectrometers and BreathBiomics™ breath-sampling systems for real-time identification of airborne bio-threats and non-invasive disease diagnosis, selling primarily to U.S. federal agencies via SBIR/STTR contracts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Biodefense Mass Spectrometry Instrumentation

NAICS

Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing (334516), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Testing Laboratories (8734)

akta.pro primary industry

Mass Spectrometry & Spectroscopy Instruments (HLAGAIAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Proteomics & Mass Spectrometry Services (HLAGANAB), Proteomics & Biomarker Analytical Testing (HLAGADAG), Air & Aerosol Monitoring (Bioaerosols, Mold, Yeast, Airborne Pathogens) (AFALAEAD), Biomarker Discovery & Validation (omics, assay feasibility, clinical validation) (HLAAAMAA)

Keywords

• Biological mass spectrometry
• Bioaerosol threat detection
• Biodefense instruments
• Breath-based diagnostics
• Aerosol pathogen identification

Headquarters

HQ city

Sykesville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Fieldable Biological Mass Spectrometer Sales: Sale of compact, low-power, low-cost mass spectrometer instruments for biodefense and medical applications. Instruments identify airborne microbes, proteins, and lipids for screening infectious disease and bio-threats.
2. Technology Licensing: Licensing of digitalMALDI technology to BioFlyte for commercial production of fieldable mass spectrometers and other products for defense and security markets.
3. Government R&D Contracts and Grants: SBIR/STTR funding from U.S. government agencies (DoD, DHS, NIH/NIAID, NSF, NOAA) for development of biological detection technology. Includes Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III contracts.
4. Analytical Testing Services: Analytical testing services using digitalMALDI mass spectrometers and systems in addition to research and development services.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Zeteo Tech develops and sells proprietary time-of-flight mass spectrometry instruments (digitalMALDI® platform) for real-time identification of airborne microbes, proteins, and lipids used in biodefense and infectious disease screening. The company also offers the BreathBiomics™ breath sampling system for non-invasive disease diagnosis, the CFADS disinfection system, and analytical testing and R&D services using its mass spectrometry laboratory.

Product overview

Zeteo Tech offers a portfolio of biological mass spectrometry products and services centered on its proprietary digitalMALDI® technology platform. The core digitalMALDI® system is a time-of-flight mass spectrometer that enables fully automated, near real-time identification of airborne microbes, proteins, and lipids for biodefense and medical applications. This platform is complemented by BreathBiomics™, a novel human breath sampling system for non-invasive disease diagnosis. The company also provides analytical testing services and R&D services. Zeteo Tech's technology has been licensed to BioFlyte for the BioTOF™ z200 fieldable mass spectrometer. Additional products include the COVID-19 Fully Automated Disinfection System (CFADS). The modular design approach allows integration with various collection technologies including Texas A&M's wetted wall cyclone and Zeteo's own impactor module.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BreathBiomics: A sampling system for comprehensive collection of biomolecules in human breath, using advanced surface chemistry for non-invasive disease diagnosis.
• digitalMALDI

Products and services

• digitalMALDI® Mass Spectrometer System Proprietary time-of-flight mass spectrometry platform that obtains biomarker measurements from individual particles in bioaerosols, enabling fully automated, near real-time identification of airborne microbes, proteins, and lipids with as few as 10 particles and without culturing. Used by U.S. government agencies for biodefense and bioaerosol threat detection.
• BreathBiomics™ Breath Sampling System Human breath sampling system using advanced surface chemistry capture mechanism to collect non-volatile organic compounds including lipids, metabolites, and proteins from exhaled breath for non-invasive disease diagnosis. Integrates with facial masks, mouthpieces, mechanical ventilators, oxygen masks, incubators, and tracheostomy tubes.
• BioFlyte BioTOF™ z200 Fieldable Mass Spectrometer Fieldable mass spectrometer produced by BioFlyte under license to Zeteo Tech's digitalMALDI® technology, used for environmental sampling, detection, monitoring, and identification of chemical and biological threats in defense, security, and airport markets including Pittsburgh International Airport.
• Analytical Testing Services Analytical testing services using digitalMALDI® aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometers and complementary Axima®, Bruker Microflex LRF MALDI-TOF instruments, and Orbitrap® mass spectrometers with electrospray ionization and nano LC sample injection systems.
• COVID-19 Fully Automated Disinfection System (CFADS) Disinfection system developed under NSF SBIR funding to rapidly return aircraft and subway cars safely to service and disinfect public gathering spaces.
• Research and Development Services R&D services associated with the use of digitalMALDI® mass spectrometers and systems for joint development projects exploring new applications in infectious disease detection and bio-threat monitoring.

Quantifiable outcome

• Detection time reduced from 12-36 hours to minutes
• +3 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

AI capability1 record

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered strategic, minor and core.

• Texas A&M UniversitystrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 September 2024Phase I STTR grant collaboration with Texas A&M University (Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering) to develop a modular aerosol sampler for microsensors. Combines Zeteo's modular microsensor with TAMU's wetted wall cyclone (WWC) technology for enhanced threat detection at point of need.
• Johns Hopkins HospitalstrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Collaboration on NIAID-funded research to investigate whether truncated proteoforms in human exhaled air can serve as non-invasive diagnostic markers for lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) and early prediction of LRTI in mechanically ventilated patients.
• ASELL, LLCminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 May 2023Added to NIAID grant team to support commercialization efforts for breath-based detection technology.
• Andrew Weber (Former Assistant Secretary of Defense)coreOthers · 29 July 2020Appointed to Board of Directors. Served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical & Biological Defense Programs. Brings expertise in threat reduction, biological weapons reduction, and international Ebola response coordination.
• BioFlyte, Inc.coreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerZeteo Tech licensed its digitalMALDI technology to Albuquerque-based BioFlyte for commercial production of fieldable mass spectrometers and other products. BioFlyte uses the technology for environmental sampling, detection, monitoring, and identification of chemical and biological threats within the defense and security market. BioFlyte is partnering with financial institutions, government organizations like the DoD, and airports such as Pittsburgh International Airport to test the BioTOF z200 system.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• BioFlyte: Albuquerque-based company that has licensed Zeteo's digitalMALDI technology for commercial production of fieldable mass spectrometers. Operates in the same biodefense and airport bioaerosol detection market with substantially overlapping customer base including DoD and Pittsburgh International Airport.
• 908 Devices: Public company developing fieldable mass spectrometry and chemical detection tools for security, defense, and life science applications. Directly comparable in delivering compact MS-based detection for chemical and biological threat use cases, with stronger commercial scale.

Broad incumbents

• Bruker Corporation: Global leader in MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for clinical microbial identification (e.g., MALDI Biotyper). Serves the same clinical diagnostics and proteomics markets Zeteo is targeting with BreathBiomics and TB screening, but at much larger scale across a broad instrument portfolio.
• Smiths Detection: Major provider of threat detection and screening technologies for airports, critical infrastructure, and defense. Directly comparable in bioaerosol surveillance and CBRN detection markets that Zeteo serves via digitalMALDI.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific: Largest analytical instruments manufacturer globally, with a dominant position in mass spectrometry (Orbitrap, TSQ, etc.). Zeteo's own analytical testing service line uses Thermo Orbitrap instruments, and Thermo competes broadly in the same analytical and biodefense workflows.
• Agilent Technologies: Leading manufacturer of analytical laboratory instruments including mass spectrometers, chromatography, and spectroscopy systems. Comparable to Zeteo in serving analytical testing laboratories and biodefense workflows, but with a much broader commercial portfolio.
• Teledyne FLIR: Provides integrated detection and sensing solutions for defense, homeland security, and CBRN applications. Overlaps with Zeteo in bioaerosol and chemical threat detection markets where government customers require rugged, field-deployable sensors.
• BAE Systems: Major defense prime contractor with CBRN and biological defense programs. Comparable as a counterpart and potential partner for Zeteo in U.S. DoD biological threat detection procurement programs.

Emerging players

• Renishaw: UK-based manufacturer of spectroscopy and mass spectrometry systems. Competes in the analytical instruments space and has explored bioanalytical applications relevant to Zeteo's clinical and life-science workflows.
• Bertin Instruments: European provider of environmental and bioaerosol sampling and detection equipment. Directly comparable in air monitoring and biological threat agent detection use cases that Zeteo targets with digitalMALDI.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/zeteotech

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 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 Zeteo Tech