What Aplex Bio does

Aplex Bio AB is a Swedish molecular diagnostics company founded in 2020 and headquartered at Karolinska Science Park in Solna, Sweden, that develops and commercializes a proprietary Hyperplex PCR (hpPCR) platform for ultra-sensitive, massively multiplexed molecular detection. The technology combines three proprietary chemistry layers — Nanopixels optically encoded nanoparticle probes that generate 100+ distinguishable codes using only 4–6 fluorescence channels, padlock probes that provide out-of-the-box single-nucleotide specificity without lengthy assay optimization, and rolling circle amplification (RCA) that produces micrometer-sized rolling-circle products (RCPs) enabling digital molecular counting via imaging — to detect up to 100 targets and produce up to ~1 million unique molecular counts per well in roughly 4 hours. The workflow runs on customers' existing standard thermocyclers and fluorescence microscopes, removing the requirement for proprietary capital instruments typical of dPCR or NGS platforms.

The company sells Hyperplex PCR Assay Kits in 20-, 50-, and 100-plex configurations (36 or 96 samples), plus a Tester Kit for evaluation, capture plates and slides, mounting media, wash buffers, and reference slides, alongside a Sample Analysis Service, an Imaging Service for labs without suitable microscopy, and a Panel Foundry platform for custom-validated panel design. All pricing is quote-based via a Request Quote flow on aplex.bio, with sales conducted as direct enterprise field sales rather than self-serve transactional commerce. Distribution is supplemented by a co-marketing agreement with Hamilton (January 2026) that integrates hpPCR kits into Hamilton automated liquid handling workstations.

Aplex Bio's served end markets include molecular diagnostics and wastewater-based epidemiology (SEEC, Swedish Public Health Agency), forensic science (Swedish National Forensic Centre, Netherlands Forensic Institute), cell and gene therapy QC, food and feed safety testing, agrigenomics (University of Gothenburg), clinical liquid biopsy research, and microbiome profiling — with its primary commercial segment being research and clinical labs requiring automation-ready, high-throughput workflows. The company is part of the Karolinska Innovations incubator, supported by SciLifeLab, EIT Health, Vinnova, and the EQT Foundation, and is led by founder/CEO Umear Naseem with a board including Professor Mats Nilsson (padlock-probe pioneer and Olink co-founder) as scientific co-founder, Chairman Jonas Wallberg, and independent director Rolf Ehrnström (joined August 2024).

Name

Aplex Bio

Legal name

Aplex Bio AB

Website

https://aplex.bio

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Aplex Bio AB is a Swedish molecular diagnostics company (founded 2020, Solna) that commercializes a proprietary Hyperplex PCR platform combining Nanopixels, padlock probes, and rolling circle amplification to detect up to 100 targets per well on standard lab equipment, serving research and clinical labs in wastewater surveillance, forensics, cell and gene therapy, agrigenomics, and liquid biopsy applications.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Solna

HQ country

Sweden

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Product sales (kits, panels, consumables): One-time sale of proprietary Hyperplex PCR Assay Kits (20/50/100-plex), pre-designed and custom panels, capture slides/plates, mounting media, wash buffer, slide frames, reference slides, and Tester Kits. Quote-based pricing through a request-quote flow.
2. Sample analysis service: Full-service analysis where customers send extracted samples to Aplex Bio's service lab and receive final results, kickoff meeting, data review meeting, and summary report (2–4 week turnaround). Used as pilot or routine testing.
3. Imaging service: Customers assay their samples using Hyperplex PCR kits and send prepared slides to Aplex Bio for imaging and analysis. Designed for customers without access to a suitable imaging system.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Aplex Bio develops and sells the proprietary Hyperplex PCR (hpPCR) platform — assay kits in 20-, 50- and 100-plex configurations, plus capture plates, capture slides, mounting media, wash buffers, slide frames, reference slides and a Tester Kit — enabling digital molecular counting of up to 1 million molecules per well with single-nucleotide specificity on standard thermocyclers and fluorescence microscopes. The platform is supported by full-service Sample Analysis and Imaging services run from the company's Solna lab and by a custom Panel Foundry for validated custom panels, with automated workflows co-marketed with Hamilton liquid handling workstations.

Product overview

Aplex Bio offers a single integrated Hyperplex PCR (hpPCR) platform built on three proprietary chemistry layers — Nanopixels (optically encoded nanoparticle probes), padlock probes for single-nucleotide specificity, and rolling circle amplification (RCA) for molecular counting — together with kits, consumables, software, and services. The core product, the Hyperplex PCR Assay Kit (available in 20-, 50-, and 100-plex configurations), is supported by a Tester Kit for evaluation, plus a full set of consumables (96-well Capture plates, Capture slides, mounting media for plates and slides, wash buffer, Slide frame, and Reference slide). The hpPCR Assay Kit is complemented by automated image analysis software that translates microscope images into molecular counts, and by services including Sample Analysis Service, Imaging Service, and the Panel Foundry for custom-validated panel design. The full workflow runs on standard thermocyclers and fluorescence microscopes and is co-marketed for automated use on Hamilton liquid handling workstations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Hyperplex PCR (hpPCR): The company's primary proprietary platform/product brand for its massively multiplexed PCR technology.
• Nanopixels

Products and services

• Hyperplex PCR Assay Kit Core hpPCR kit available in 20-, 50- and 100-plex configurations for 36 or 96 samples, including controls; provides buffers, Nanopixels and enzymes to perform end-to-end reactions with digital quantification of up to 100 targets per well and single-nucleotide specificity. Designed for research and clinical laboratories performing high-plex molecular detection.
• Tester Kit (SKU 170010) Standardized-sample kit for new and existing users to learn hpPCR fundamentals; includes reagents for two evaluations on microscope slides — RT-PCR mastermix, ligation/RCA mastermix, control sample, Nanopixel labelling mastermix, wash buffers, slides, cover slips and mounting medium. For researchers evaluating the Hyperplex PCR platform.
• Capture plate (96 well, SKU 164030) Standard 96-well SBS-format plate for amplicon capture, Nanopixel labelling and imaging through a thin coverslip forming the plate bottom; supports up to 96 multiplex measurements per well (up to 9,600 single-plex measurements per plate) in an automation-friendly ANSI-SLAS format.
• Capture slides (5-pack and 25-pack) Modified glass slides for amplicon capture, Nanopixel labelling and imaging, with cover slips included; available in 5-pack (10 cover slips + 1 mounting medium tube) and 25-pack (50 cover slips + 5 mounting medium tubes).
• Mounting medium for plates (SKU 141202) Mounting medium supplied as one 3.5 mL tube for use with one hpPCR assay plate.
• Mounting medium for slides (SKU 141201) Mounting medium supplied as 5 × 210 µL tubes, sufficient for up to 25 hpPCR assay slides.
• Wash buffer (200 mL, SKU 051123) Extra wash buffer supplied as a 200 mL bottle to enable custom or automated hpPCR assay workflows.
• Slide frame (SKU 065100) Reusable frame with 24 square wells and two clips for capturing samples on a microscope slide, allowing capture of 21 samples per slide.
• Reference slide (SKU 184010) Reference slide used to calibrate and validate microscopes used with the hpPCR assay.
• Sample analysis service Full-service hpPCR analysis of customer-supplied extracted samples, including a kickoff meeting, data review meeting, summary report and raw data access, with 2–4 week turnaround. Allows customers to pilot-test Hyperplex PCR before in-lab implementation or run routine testing.
• Imaging service Service for customers who perform hpPCR assays in-house using Hyperplex PCR kits and send prepared slides to Aplex Bio for imaging, designed for labs without access to a suitable imaging system.
• Panel Foundry (custom hpPCR panel design service) Dedicated platform for the design, validation and delivery of custom hpPCR panels, offered alongside a growing catalog of off-the-shelf panels for high-impact applications, with rapid turnaround (new panels ready to order within 1 day; full custom within ~2 weeks).

Quantifiable outcome

• Detects up to 100 targets in a single well, vs ~5 for qPCR and ~6 for digital PCR
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature7 records

Partnerships

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

• University of Gothenburg (Prof. Henrik Aronsson, PhD student Esteri Viitanen)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 March 2026Research collaboration applying hpPCR to study plant stress tolerance (wheat). Co-hosted a Hyperplex PCR Seminar at University of Gothenburg (March 4, 2026). Co-authored a 20-plex gene expression analysis published as a chapter in Springer Methods in Molecular Biology. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences.
• HamiltonflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 January 2026Co-marketing agreement to jointly promote an automated liquid handling solution for Aplex Bio's Hyperplex PCR™ (hpPCR™) Assay Kits on Hamilton robotic platforms. Enables highly automated detection and quantification of up to 100 molecular markers in a single well. Hamilton (Bonaduz, Switzerland / Reno, Nevada) is a leading global manufacturer of automated liquid handling workstations. Quotes from Roberto Fantozzi (Director Commercial Excellence, Hamilton) and Umear Naseem (CEO, Aplex Bio).
• Rolf Ehrnström (independent biotech board member)coreOthers · 1 August 2024Biotech veteran appointed to Aplex Bio Board of Directors on 26 Aug 2024. Background: Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Dako (acquired by Agilent), co-founder/VP R&D of Gyros AB, CVP/CSO of Dako-Agilent A/S. Also holds board seats at Gradientech AB, Lynsight Oy, Scandinavian Chemotech AB, and Fluimedix A/S.
• GLOWACON (European Commission / HERA initiative)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 March 2024Aplex Bio participates in GLOWACON, an international initiative by the European Commission's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) to create an advanced sentinel system for early detection and tracking of epidemic threats via wastewater surveillance. Launched in Brussels, March 19–20, 2024.
• SWEDEN@CES2024 (Swedish delegation at CES 2024)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 11 December 2023Aplex Bio participated as part of the Sweden@CES2024 delegation in Las Vegas (approximately 100 Swedish companies). Chairman Dr. Jonas Wallberg represented the company.
• SciLifeLabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSciLifeLab is a founding research partner; Aplex Bio's technology is based on research in collaboration with Professor Mats Nilsson's laboratory at SciLifeLab. SciLifeLab is shown as a supporter on the website and hosts affiliated research programs (e.g., SEEC).
• Karolinska Innovations (KI Innovations)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAplex Bio is based at the Karolinska Institute (KI) campus and is part of KI Innovations (KIAB), the Karolinska Institute's innovation hub / incubator. KIAB is shown as a supporter on the website.
• Swedish Environmental Epidemiology Center (SEEC)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerMulti-year collaboration on wastewater-based epidemiology using hpPCR for SARS-CoV-2 variant tracking. Co-produced a year-long SARS-CoV-2 variant surveillance publication in Water Research, a long-term Stockholm WBE study in Science of the Total Environment, and presentations at Epizone 2024. Researchers involved: Maja Malmberg, Anna J. Székely, Zeynep Cetecioglu. Collaboration has expanded to include an integrated respiratory surveillance panel whose data is supplied to the Swedish Public Health Agency.
• EIT HealthminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAplex Bio is a Scandinavian start-up selected for the EIT Health Catapult semifinals (six Scandinavian start-ups ready).
• Swedish National Forensic Centre (NFC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearchers Johannes Hedman and Maja Sidstedt from NFC evaluated hpPCR for forensic cell type identification, presented at ISFG 2024. The method is now being further tested by NFC in collaboration with the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI).

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Bio-Rad Laboratories: Global life science leader with the QX200/QX600 droplet digital PCR (dPCR) product line. Aplex Bio's hpPCR directly targets dPCR's multiplexing ceiling of ~6 targets and competes for the same molecular diagnostics and life science research customers, though Bio-Rad offers a much broader portfolio of instruments and reagents.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific: Operates the QuantStudio absolute Q dPCR system and a broad qPCR/NGS portfolio. Aplex Bio competes with Thermo Fisher's PCR and digital PCR platforms in pathogen detection, gene expression, and applied markets; Thermo Fisher is the incumbent against which hpPCR's standard-equipment, 100-plex value proposition is benchmarked.
• QIAGEN: Provides the QIAcuity digital PCR platform and a broad portfolio of PCR/NGS sample technologies. Overlaps with Aplex Bio in pathogen detection, gene expression, and forensic/forensics-adjacent workflows, but QIAGEN's dPCR ceiling (~5 targets) is materially below hpPCR's 100-plex.
• Roche Diagnostics: Operates the Digital LightCycler and a deep molecular diagnostics portfolio across infectious disease, oncology, and genomics. Competes with hpPCR in routine clinical diagnostics settings where Aplex Bio is currently RUO, and sets the bar for regulatory-grade multiplex PCR/dPCR platforms.

Direct peers

• Standard BioTools (formerly Fluidigm): Markets the Biomark HD system for highly multiplexed PCR-based assays (qPCR/dPCR). Directly comparable to Aplex Bio in targeting high-plex gene expression and SNP genotyping with imaging-based molecular counting, though Standard BioTools relies on a proprietary instrument while Aplex Bio's hpPCR runs on standard microscopes.
• Stilla Technologies: Provides the naica system for crystal digital PCR, including 6-color multiplexed dPCR. Targets similar applied markets (liquid biopsy, viral detection, gene expression); Aplex Bio's 100-plex capability is a step-change vs Stilla's ~6-color ceiling, though Stilla has a more established commercial footprint in clinical research.

Others

• Olink Holding AB: Proteomics platform co-founded by Mats Nilsson (Aplex Bio board member), which pioneered proximity extension assay (PEA) for high-plex protein measurement. Adjacent in multiplexed molecular measurement and shares scientific lineage; Olink illustrates the scale and exit profile Nilsson-associated technologies have achieved.
• EMPE Diagnostics AB: Swedish molecular diagnostics company also co-founded by Mats Nilsson, focused on antibiotic resistance and infectious disease detection. Shares scientific founder DNA with Aplex Bio and targets overlapping pathogen-detection use cases, though EMPE uses melt-curve/sequencing rather than hpPCR's encoded Nanopixel approach.

Emerging players

• Lexogen: Offers targeted molecular analysis kits including sensitive gene expression and targeted RNA-seq products (e.g., QuantSeq, SIRVs). Comparable to Aplex Bio in serving mid-throughput genomics research customers with kit-based workflows, though Lexogen focuses on NGS library prep while Aplex Bio offers a PCR-only alternative.
• Paragon Genomics: Provides targeted NGS panel design (CleanPlex) with rapid custom panel turnaround, paralleling Aplex Bio's Panel Foundry offering for custom hpPCR panels. Both compete for research labs needing fast custom assay development; Paragon Genomics is NGS-based while Aplex Bio is PCR-based.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/aplexbio
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/aplexbio

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors

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 Aplex Bio