What METAFORA biosystems does

METAFORA biosystems is a France-headquartered biotechnology company developing proprietary Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) ligands — described as innovative, unmatched ligands of nutrient transporters — and applying them to two product lines. Its core research-use platform, METAflow, delivers AI-powered cytometry and cell metabolism profiling for researchers analyzing cellular metabolic data, while METAglut1™ is a clinical diagnostic and monitoring tool for Glucose Transporter Type 1 Deficiency Syndrome (Glut1DS). Both products are anchored on the same underlying chemistry: RBD ligands that bind specific nutrient transporters and report on cellular metabolic state through cytometry readouts enhanced by machine learning-based predictive analytics.

The company operates commercially through a direct, digital-first go-to-market: it sells via its corporate website with a "BUY NOW" option for kits and provides access to METAflow through a dedicated online portal (eu.metaflow.bio / v2.metaflow.bio), and characterizes its revenue model as subscription/recurring. Customer acquisition leans on scientific publications, webinars, and conference participation aimed at healthcare and research institutions in Western Europe and North America. METAFORA biosystems is a privately held firm founded in 2011, with its registered headquarters at the Pépinière Paris Biotech Santé incubator in Paris (29 rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques) and a US subsidiary, METAFORA biosystems, Inc., in Chicago, Illinois.

METAFORA's funding history is exclusively non-dilutive to date: an early EISMEA grant in 2017, a Horizon 2020 award of approximately $3.8M in 2018, and a European Innovation Council round of approximately $2.6M in 2022, bringing cumulative disclosed funding to roughly $6.4M. Leadership consists of co-founder Vincent Petit (CEO) and co-founder Luc d'Auriol (Chairman). The firm employs between 11 and 50 people, has no disclosed patents, partnerships, named customers, or revenue figures in the source data, and currently markets no standalone AI models, SDKs, or APIs beyond its platform portal.

Name

METAFORA biosystems

Legal name

METAFORA biosystems

Website

https://metafora-biosystems.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

METAFORA biosystems is a French biotech that uses proprietary RBD ligands of nutrient transporters to power METAflow, an AI-enabled cytometry platform for cell metabolism research, and METAglut1™, a diagnostic for Glut1 Deficiency Syndrome, sold to research and clinical institutions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI-Powered Cytometry and Cell Metabolism Diagnostics

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Medical Laboratories (8071), In Vitro & In Vivo Diagnostic Substances (2835)

akta.pro primary industry

High-Throughput Screening & Assay Platforms (HTS/HCS, phenotypic screening) (HLAAAIAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Specialty & Biomarker Laboratory Services (Immunoassays/Flow/Cytometry) (HLAGAEAB), Bioinformatics & Multi-omics Analysis Software (HLAGAJAD)

Keywords

• Cell metabolism profiling
• AI-powered cytometry
• Metabolic disorder diagnostics
• Flow cytometry platform
• Nutrient transporter ligands

Headquarters

HQ city

Évry

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Diagnostic Products and Platform Services: Revenue generated from sale of METAglut1 diagnostic products and METAflow platform access

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

METAFORA biosystems develops and commercializes AI-powered cytometry and cell metabolism profiling tools built on proprietary RBD ligands of nutrient transporters. Its portfolio includes METAflow, a research-oriented cytometry platform for cell metabolism analysis, and METAglut1™, a clinical diagnostic and monitoring solution for Glut1 Deficiency Syndrome (Glut1DS). Both offerings target healthcare and research institutions globally.

Product overview

METAFORA biosystems offers a dual-product portfolio focused on AI-powered cell metabolism analysis. The core offerings include METAflow, an AI-powered cytometry and cell metabolism profiling platform, and METAglut1™, a diagnostic tool for Glut1 deficiency syndrome. Both products leverage artificial intelligence to analyze cellular metabolic data for research and clinical applications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• METAflow: Flow cytometry platform for AI-powered cell metabolism analysis.
• METAglut1™

Products and services

• METAflow METAflow is an AI-powered cytometry and cell metabolism profiling platform that enables researchers and clinical users to analyze cellular metabolic data at single-cell resolution using proprietary RBD ligands of nutrient transporters.
• METAglut1™ METAglut1™ is a medical diagnostic and monitoring tool for Glut1 Deficiency Syndrome (Glut1DS) that measures glucose transporter 1 deficiency through cell metabolism analysis using METAFORA's proprietary RBD ligand technology.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Beckman Coulter Life Sciences: Major flow cytometry and cell analysis incumbent (part of Danaher). Comparable to METAFORA because it serves the same research and clinical cytometry market, but with vastly broader instrument portfolios and a hardware-led model rather than METAFORA's niche metabolism-profiling AI software angle.
• BD Biosciences: Division of Becton Dickinson and a leading flow cytometry, cell sorting, and reagent provider. Comparable to METAFORA as a flow-cytometry platform competitor targeting similar research and clinical customers, with far greater scale and a broad instrument-plus-reagent portfolio.
• 10x Genomics: Single-cell and spatial omics platform company serving biomedical researchers. Comparable to METAFORA because researchers evaluating METAflow for cell metabolism profiling are often the same buyers evaluating 10x's single-cell solutions, putting them in overlapping purchasing conversations at research institutions.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific (Cell Analysis): Diversified life sciences tools giant with a deep cell-analysis portfolio (Attune, flow cytometers, reagents). Comparable as a competing supplier of flow cytometry instruments, reagents, and software to the same healthcare and research institutions METAFORA targets.

Direct peers

• Cytek Biosciences: Specialist flow cytometry instrumentation company whose spectral cell analyzers compete for the same research-customer budgets as METAFORA's METAflow platform. Highly comparable in core technology (flow cytometry) and customer base (research institutions), though Cytek is focused on hardware while METAFORA is focused on AI-driven metabolism profiling.
• Standard BioTools (formerly Fluidigm): Provider of mass cytometry (CyTOF) and single-cell analysis instruments used in immunology and cell metabolism research. Comparable to METAFORA because it targets the same research-customer need — deep cellular phenotyping — using cytometry-based instrumentation.

Emerging players

• Metabolon: Metabolomics services and biomarker discovery company serving pharma and research customers. Comparable to METAFORA because it competes for the same "cell metabolism insights" research budget, but with a mass-spectrometry-based metabolomics approach rather than METAFORA's cytometry/RBD approach.
• Biocrates Life Sciences: Targeted metabolomics company offering standardized kits and services for metabolic phenotyping. Comparable to METAFORA in targeting metabolism-focused research customers, though using mass-spec assays rather than cytometry and serving a broader metabolite panel than METAFORA's transporter-focused approach.
• Meso Scale Diagnostics: Biomarker assay and immunoassay platform provider serving pharma, clinical, and research customers. Comparable to METAFORA in offering a specialty biomarker platform (METAglut1/MSD assays target metabolic biomarkers in similar customer accounts) and competing for similar diagnostic and translational research budgets.
• NanoCellect Biomedical: Microfluidic cell-sorting and cytometry company targeting research and cell therapy workflows. Comparable to METAFORA as a smaller, niche cytometry platform competing for similar research-customer adoption, though focused on cell sorting rather than metabolism profiling.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 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 METAFORA biosystems