Cytely
Cytely is a Swedish smart microscopy SaaS platform that converts standard microscopes into real-time AI-powered data analysis tools. Its cloud-based service enables academic researchers and life sciences companies to perform automated, reproducible cell quantification at population scale.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2023
- HeadquartersLund, Sweden
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Cytely does
Cytely is a Swedish DeepTech startup founded in 2023 and headquartered at Medicon Village in Lund, that sells a cloud-based smart microscopy SaaS platform designed to convert standard laboratory microscopes into real-time quantitative data engines. The company's product, Cytely Essentials, uses AI-powered computer-vision algorithms for automated cell segmentation, interactive gating with visual verification, and a Data-Driven Microscopy (DDM) feedback loop that automatically directs microscopes to capture the most informative cells. The platform is hardware-agnostic across Nikon, Zeiss, Leica, and Olympus file formats, requires no local GPU, and is delivered entirely through a web browser. The underlying methodology is grounded in peer-reviewed research from co-founder Philip Nordenfelt's academic lab, published in Cell Reports Methods.
The platform primarily serves academic and research institutions conducting biological microscopy, alongside life sciences and biotech companies running drug discovery, antibody screening, and quality control imaging. Customer evidence includes viral latency research at Lund University's Evilevitch Lab, cancer mechanobiology at the Swaminathan Lab, muscle fiber quantification at a European muscular dystrophy research lab, nanowire analysis at a Swedish biotech startup, and ADCP antibody screening at a Swedish life sciences company, with documented outcomes including a 1000x increase in data throughput, 75% reduction in imaging time, 99.9% concordance against manual counting, and approximately €300,000 per year in researcher time savings.
Cytely monetizes through a freemium SaaS model: a free tier for individual researchers with limited analysis credits, an individual subscription at $299 per month for ten credits, and custom-priced Team (5+ seats) and Enterprise tiers that bundle SSO, audit trails, multi-site deployment, and onboarding services. Go-to-market combines product-led self-serve sign-up with enterprise field sales for larger accounts, supplemented by conference presence and peer-reviewed scientific publications. In October 2025 the company raised €3 million in seed funding led by Ugly Duckling Ventures with Icebreaker.vc to accelerate international expansion across Europe, the U.S., and Asia.
Cytely firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Cytely
- Legal name
- Cytely AB
- Website
- https://cytely.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2023
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Cytely is a Swedish smart microscopy SaaS platform that converts standard microscopes into real-time AI-powered data analysis tools. Its cloud-based service enables academic researchers and life sciences companies to perform automated, reproducible cell quantification at population scale.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Cytely industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Microscopy Analysis Software
- NAICS
- Medical and Diagnostic Laboratories (6215), Research and Development in Nanotechnology (541713)
- SIC
- Computer Peripheral Equipment, Nec (3577)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Electronic Data Capture (EDC) Platforms (HLACAOAA)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- 3D Vision, Depth Sensing & Point Cloud Analytics (HDAAAEAK)
Keywords
Where Cytely is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Lund
- HQ country
- Sweden
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Cytely business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- SaaS Subscription (Individual): Monthly subscription for single users at $299/month with 10 analysis credits. Includes image analysis support, advanced microscopy analysis tools, and priority email support.
- SaaS Subscription (Team): Custom team plans for 5+ seats including team collaboration tools, shared experiment folders and templates, team-wide data management, and dedicated support from microscopy experts.
- Enterprise Plans: Custom enterprise plans with AI-guided workflow creation, AI results dashboard builder, onboarding services, custom integrations, group-based access control, single-sign-on, custom pipeline development, organization-wide assay governance, full audit trail, and multi-site deployment support.
- Free Tier: Free forever tier for individual researchers with unlimited free storage for publicly shared datasets, 1 monthly analysis credit plus 5 bonus credits on signup, and community support.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free forever for individual researchers and educational purposes |
| Subscription | Monthly | Single user plan for researchers and scientists at $299/month |
| Subscription | Monthly | Team plan for 5+ users standardizing measurement together |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Custom enterprise solution for teams operationalizing measurement across sites |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
Cytely product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Cytely is a cloud-based AI-powered smart microscopy SaaS platform that converts standard microscopes into real-time data analysis engines. The platform performs automated cell segmentation, interactive gating with visual verification, and population-level single-cell quantification without requiring local GPU hardware. It delivers reproducible, auditable quantitative results from microscopy images, targeting academic researchers, biotech companies, and pharmaceutical organizations.
Product overview
Cytely offers Cytely Essentials, a unified smart microscopy platform that transforms standard microscopes into real-time data engines for biological measurement. The platform consists of the core Cytely Essentials software combined with automated single-cell quantification, pre-validated assay workflows, intelligent acquisition capabilities, cloud-based image analysis, and interactive data visualization with gating. Together, these components enable researchers to convert existing microscopes into measurement instruments, achieving reproducible quantification across cell populations in minutes rather than months.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Cytely Essentials Cytely Essentials is the company's primary smart microscopy software platform that converts standard microscopes into real-time data analysis tools. It enables automated cell segmentation, interactive gating with visual verification, and quantitative population-level single-cell analysis processed in the cloud without local GPU requirements. The platform is designed for academic researchers, biotech companies, and pharmaceutical organizations seeking reproducible biological measurement.
Quantifiable outcome
- 75% reduction in imaging and analysis time
- +7 more outcomes
Companies that use Cytely
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Cytely technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability4 records
Feature8 records
Cytely partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Smile Venture HubcoreCytely is part of Smile Venture Hub portfolio and supported by the European Regional Development Fund, indicating strategic ecosystem partnership for deep tech startups.
- Nordenfelt LabcoreAcademic research foundation behind Cytely's data-driven microscopy (DDM) methodology. Scientific co-founder Philip Nordenfelt leads the lab. Core IP and methodology originates from this academic partnership.
- Global BioImage Analysts' SocietyminorPartner organization shown on Cytely website indicating community alignment and professional network in bioimaging.
- BioImaging North AmericaminorPartner organization shown on Cytely website indicating community alignment and professional network in bioimaging.
- LBIC (Lund Business Innovation Center)minorPartner organization shown on Cytely website indicating local ecosystem support in Lund region.
- Amsterdam Life Sciences DistrictminorPartner organization shown on Cytely website indicating European ecosystem presence in life sciences hub.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Cytely competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Arivis (Zeiss): Arivis, now part of Carl Zeiss Microscopy, is a 3D/4D microscopy image visualization and analysis platform with comparable high-content and large-dataset workflows to Cytely, serving overlapping research and pharma customers.
- Bitplane (Imaris): Bitplane's Imaris is a leading commercial microscopy image visualization and analysis platform used across life sciences research, directly competing with Cytely in cell segmentation, quantification, and 3D/4D microscopy workflows.
- Aivia: Aivia (now part of Leica Microsystems) is an AI-driven microscopy image analysis platform that directly competes with Cytely on automated cell segmentation, interactive visualization, and AI-assisted workflows for life sciences researchers.
Broad incumbents
- Molecular Devices (MetaXpress): Molecular Devices, part of Danaher, sells high-content screening instruments and MetaXpress acquisition/analysis software; it is a broader incumbent offering hardware-plus-software workflows that overlap with Cytely's automated single-cell analysis capabilities.
- Bio-Rad Image Lab: Bio-Rad's Image Lab software, bundled with its Gel Doc and ChemiDoc imaging systems, is a broad-incumbent image analysis solution in life sciences labs, with partial overlap on basic quantification workflows that Cytely targets.
- Nikon NIS-Elements: Nikon NIS-Elements is the imaging software bundled with Nikon microscopes, providing acquisition and basic analysis capabilities; it competes broadly with Cytely for research lab image analysis workflows.
- Revvity (formerly PerkinElmer): Revvity's cellular imaging portfolio (Operetta, Columbus) provides high-content imaging and analysis for life sciences research and drug discovery, competing broadly with Cytely's automated quantification and assay governance offerings.
- Zeiss ZEN: Zeiss ZEN is the imaging and analysis software for Zeiss microscopes, offering acquisition, processing, and AI-based analysis features that overlap with Cytely's cloud-based microscopy analysis platform.
Others
- CellProfiler (Broad Institute): CellProfiler is a widely-used, free, open-source cell image analysis software from the Broad Institute; it is not a commercial competitor but functions as the free alternative that Cytely must displace in academic labs.
Emerging players
- QuPath: QuPath is an emerging open-source bioimage analysis platform with strong adoption in digital pathology and tissue microscopy; it overlaps with Cytely in cell segmentation and quantification, particularly for whole-slide and tissue-level use cases.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Cytely social profiles
Digital presenceCytely compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Cytely financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Cytely leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Cytely funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Cytely M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Cytely
What does Cytely do?
Cytely is a cloud-based AI-powered smart microscopy SaaS platform that converts standard microscopes into real-time data analysis engines. The platform performs automated cell segmentation, interactive gating with visual verification, and population-level single-cell quantification without requiring local GPU hardware. It delivers reproducible, auditable quantitative results from microscopy images, targeting academic researchers, biotech companies, and pharmaceutical organizations.
Is Cytely a public or private company?
Cytely is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Cytely founded?
Cytely was founded in 2023. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Cytely based?
Cytely is headquartered in Lund, Sweden, in the Europe region.
How does Cytely make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. SaaS Subscription (Individual) is the primary driver. The others are saaS Subscription (Team), enterprise Plans and free Tier.
Who are Cytely's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Arivis (Zeiss), Bitplane (Imaris) and Aivia. Broad incumbents are Molecular Devices (MetaXpress), Bio-Rad Image Lab, Nikon NIS-Elements, Revvity (formerly PerkinElmer) and Zeiss ZEN. CellProfiler (Broad Institute) is listed as an others. QuPath is listed as an emerging player.
Does Cytely have an API?
No public API is recorded for Cytely.
What industry is Cytely in?
Cytely's product category is Microscopy Analysis Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLACAOAA, Electronic Data Capture (EDC) Platforms, with a secondary code of HDAAAEAK, 3D Vision, Depth Sensing & Point Cloud Analytics. Its NAICS code is 6215 and its SIC code is 3577.