Capio Biosciences
Capio Biosciences is a Madison, Wisconsin-based biotech founded in 2015 that develops the CapioCyte platform — a high-sensitivity liquid biopsy technology for capturing circulating tumor cells from whole blood to support cancer research and pharmaceutical drug development.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersMadison, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Capio Biosciences does
Capio Biosciences, Inc. is a privately held biotechnology company founded in 2015 and headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, developing the CapioCyte platform for the capture and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from whole blood. The platform combines biomimetic cell rolling — which mimics the physiological interaction between CTCs and blood vessel walls to slow cell transit through a flow chamber — with dendrimer-mediated multivalent immunocapture to achieve what the company reports as 10-100X greater sensitivity than other available CTC isolation platforms. Captured cells are compatible with downstream molecular analyses including FISH, RNA-Seq, and NGS, and an internally developed convolutional neural network with logistic regression automates CTC enumeration with 82.9% true-positive identification and a false positive rate below 0.1%. The core intellectual property is exclusively licensed from the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois under U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 15/123,156.
The company is pre-commercial: the CapioCyte System is explicitly under development and not for use in diagnostic procedures, and pricing is not publicly disclosed. Revenue to date is generated through technology and patent licensing, grant-funded research collaborations, and joint development projects — notably a $2.18M joint project with BioView for head and neck cancer liquid biopsy (January 2023) supported by an $874,000 Korea-Israel (KORIL) Industrial R&D Foundation grant, and approximately $500,000 over two years from Hongcheon-gun local government to support the Capio Biosciences Korea subsidiary within Gangwon Technopark. Primary customer segments are academic cancer researchers and pharmaceutical companies seeking biomarkers for patient stratification and treatment monitoring; clinical healthcare providers are positioned as a future segment. The company operates a wholly-owned Korean subsidiary in Incheon and has expanded into the Hongcheon National Antibody Cluster, and is governed by a board including David Chen (Chairman and CEO of Scion Medical Technologies) and Dr. Li Mao of Betta Pharmaceuticals, with a Scientific Advisory Board drawn from MIT, Dana-Farber, and Duke.
Capio Biosciences firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Capio Biosciences
- Legal name
- Capio Biosciences, Inc.
- Website
- https://capiobiosciences.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Capio Biosciences is a Madison, Wisconsin-based biotech founded in 2015 that develops the CapioCyte platform — a high-sensitivity liquid biopsy technology for capturing circulating tumor cells from whole blood to support cancer research and pharmaceutical drug development.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Capio Biosciences industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Cancer Diagnostics
- NAICS
- Research and Development in Nanotechnology (541713)
- SIC
- In Vitro & In Vivo Diagnostic Substances (2835)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Liquid Biopsy Biomarkers (ctDNA/ctRNA/CTCs/exosomes) (HLAAAMAH)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Single-Cell & Spatial Omics Discovery Platforms (target ID/validation, functional profiling) (HLAAAIAF)
Keywords
Where Capio Biosciences is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Madison
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices4 records
Markets served
Capio Biosciences business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
Revenue model
- Technology Licensing: Licensing of CapioCyte technology platform to research institutions and pharmaceutical companies for cancer research and drug development applications.
- Research Collaborations and Grants: Grant-funded research projects including the $2.18M KORIL Foundation project with BioView for head and neck cancer liquid biopsy development.
- Patent Licensing: Intellectual property licensing including the exclusively licensed patent from the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois for biomimetic microfluidic device technology.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels7 records
Capio Biosciences product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Capio Biosciences is developing the CapioCyte platform, a microfluidic system that captures circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from whole blood using biomimetic cell rolling combined with dendrimer-mediated multivalent cell capture. The proprietary chips and flow chamber deliver 10–100x greater capture sensitivity than other CTC platforms and provide enriched CTCs for downstream molecular analyses (FISH, RNA-Seq, NGS). The platform is positioned for cancer research applications and potential future clinical use in oncology patient management.
Product overview
Capio Biosciences offers a single unified product platform called CapioCyte for capturing and analyzing circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from whole blood. The technology combines biomimetic cell rolling (mimicking physiological CTC-blood vessel wall interactions) with dendrimer-mediated multivalent immunocapture to achieve 10-100x greater sensitivity than existing platforms. The CapioCyte system includes proprietary chips for a specially designed flow chamber, fluorescence analysis capabilities, and compatibility with post-capture molecular analyses (FISH, RNA-Seq, NGS). The platform is under development for cancer research applications with potential future clinical use in patient management.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- CapioCyte: An innovative and ultra-sensitive technology for the capture and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from whole blood, utilizing biomimetic cell rolling and dendrimer-mediated multivalent cell capture.
Products and services
- CapioCyte CTC Capture Platform An ultra-sensitive microfluidic technology platform for the capture and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from whole blood, utilizing biomimetic cell rolling and dendrimer-mediated multivalent cell capture. Delivers 10 to 100 times greater capture sensitivity than other currently available platforms, enables enriched CTCs for post-capture molecular analysis including FISH, RNA-Seq, and NGS, and is intended for cancer researchers and pharmaceutical companies conducting drug trials.
Quantifiable outcome
- Clinical data show sensitivity 10 to 100 times greater than previously published data using other platforms
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Capio Biosciences
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments3 records
Capio Biosciences technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability3 records
Feature4 records
Capio Biosciences partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- BioViewcoreCapio Biosciences and BioView launched a $2.18M project to advance liquid biopsy for head and neck cancer. BioView provides imaging and image analysis capabilities to complement Capio's CTC capture technology. The project includes $874,000 in funding from the KORIL Foundation.
- University of Wisconsin-MadisoncoreAcademic research partnership with UW-Madison researchers including co-founder Seungpyo Hong, PhD. Collaborative publication in Biosensors and Bioelectronics 2023 on nanotechnology and machine learning for CTC-based cancer detection.
- University of Illinois (Board of Trustees)coreExclusive licensing of U.S. Patent Application Serial No.: 15/123,156 for Biomimetic Microfluid Device for Capturing Circulating Tumor Cells to Capio Biosciences.
- MIT (Robert Langer)minorRobert S. Langer, ScD, David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT serves on Capio Biosciences Scientific Advisory Board.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Capio Biosciences competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Biocept: Liquid biopsy company offering CTC and ctDNA assays for oncology research and clinical applications; directly comparable target customers and biomarker positioning.
- Epic Sciences: Specializes in CTC characterization and single-cell molecular analysis for pharma drug development and clinical research — directly comparable to CapioCyte's downstream NGS/FISH use cases.
- ANGLE plc: Develops the Parsortix microfluidic CTC capture system for liquid biopsy in oncology and other indications, competing head-to-head with CapioCyte in research-use and clinical CTC isolation workflows.
- RareCyte: Provides the AccuCyte and RareCyte CTC platforms for rare-cell isolation and downstream molecular analysis, targeting the same oncology research and translational biomarker customers as Capio.
- Menarini Silicon Biosystems: Maker of the FDA-cleared CellSearch CTC enumeration platform — the long-standing reference method for circulating tumor cell capture and analysis, directly comparable to CapioCyte in product category and target customer base.
Broad incumbents
- Guardant Health: Liquid biopsy leader offering ctDNA-based oncology testing (Guardant360, Guardant Reveal); adjacent rather than direct overlap, but a dominant incumbent CapioCyte must differentiate against for clinical oncology diagnostics.
- Natera: Broad oncology and reproductive health molecular diagnostics player including Signatera MRD; comparable as a scaled liquid biopsy operator competing for the same biomarker and oncology trial budget.
- Exact Sciences: Oncology diagnostics leader (Cologuard, Oncotype DX, Oncodetect MRD); relevant broad incumbent in cancer blood-based diagnostics with substantial commercial infrastructure Capio lacks.
Emerging players
- Personalis: Cancer genomics company offering tumor-informed MRD (NeXT Personal) and immuno-oncology profiling — partial overlap with CapioCyte's downstream NGS use cases and pharma/biopharma customers.
Others
- Bio-Techne: Life science reagents and diagnostic tools provider including ExoDx and ProteinSimple; comparable as a research-tools and diagnostics infrastructure vendor serving similar academic and translational oncology labs.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Capio Biosciences social profiles
Digital presenceCapio Biosciences financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Capio Biosciences leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Capio Biosciences subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Capio Biosciences funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
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Capio Biosciences 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 Capio Biosciences
What does Capio Biosciences do?
Capio Biosciences is developing the CapioCyte platform, a microfluidic system that captures circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from whole blood using biomimetic cell rolling combined with dendrimer-mediated multivalent cell capture. The proprietary chips and flow chamber deliver 10–100x greater capture sensitivity than other CTC platforms and provide enriched CTCs for downstream molecular analyses (FISH, RNA-Seq, NGS). The platform is positioned for cancer research applications and potential future clinical use in oncology patient management.
Is Capio Biosciences a public or private company?
Capio Biosciences is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Capio Biosciences founded?
Capio Biosciences was founded in 2015. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Capio Biosciences based?
Capio Biosciences is headquartered in Madison, United States, in the North America region.
How does Capio Biosciences make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Technology Licensing is the primary driver. The others are research Collaborations and Grants and patent Licensing.
Who are Capio Biosciences's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Biocept, Epic Sciences, ANGLE plc, RareCyte and Menarini Silicon Biosystems. Broad incumbents are Guardant Health, Natera and Exact Sciences. Personalis is listed as an emerging player. Bio-Techne is listed as an others.
Does Capio Biosciences have an API?
No public API is recorded for Capio Biosciences.
What industry is Capio Biosciences in?
Capio Biosciences's product category is Cancer Diagnostics. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAAAMAH, Liquid Biopsy Biomarkers (ctDNA/ctRNA/CTCs/exosomes), with a secondary code of HLAAAIAF, Single-Cell & Spatial Omics Discovery Platforms (target ID/validation, functional profiling). Its NAICS code is 541713 and its SIC code is 2835.