What Skroot Laboratory does

Skroot Laboratory Inc. is an Iowa-based biotechnology company founded in 2018 as a spinout from Iowa State University research, headquartered at the Iowa State University Research Park in Ames. The company designs and develops the SMART (Single-use, Metabolite Absorbing, Resonant Transducer) Platform, a wireless sensor system for contact-free, real-time monitoring of cell growth in upstream bioprocess applications. The platform combines passive, battery-free sensors that leverage a selective transduction membrane softening on exposure to secreted metabolites, paired with benchtop and continuous reader devices and cloud-connected software that streams data to an AWS dashboard. The proprietary Skroot Growth Index (SGI) and optional harvest indicator features allow operators to track cell progression and trigger notifications without manual sampling, validated across bacteria, yeast, insect, and mammalian cell lines.

The company pursues an OEM-embedded go-to-market model, integrating SMART technology into market-leading cell culture vessels through flagship partnerships with Wilson Wolf (G-Rex vessels for cell and gene therapy) and IBI Scientific (Tunair shake flasks and flow cells for bioreactor sampling). Four product platforms are scheduled for commercial launch in 2026: the SensoRex Benchtop Platform and SMART G-Rex Continuous Platform under the Wilson Wolf partnership, and the SMART-Cell Platform and SMART Tunair Flask Platform under the IBI Scientific partnership. Revenue is generated through hardware sales (sensors, readers, OEM hardware development kits) and professional development services for partner integrations, with the S300B sensor model supplied to partners for integration during vessel manufacturing.

Skroot Laboratory is presently pre-commercial, supported by approximately $1.28M in cumulative non-dilutive funding from the National Science Foundation, Iowa Economic Development Authority, and Ag Startup Engine. The platform holds 21 CFR Part 11 software compliance and FCC, UL, REACH, RoHS, and CE reader certifications, positioning it for GMP-validated cell therapy and biomanufacturing customers. An 8-person cross-disciplinary team led by Founder and President Nigel Reuel is executing the transition from development to commercial launch across the OEM product portfolio.

Name

Skroot Laboratory

Legal name

Skroot Laboratory Inc.

Website

https://skrootlab.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Skroot Laboratory Inc. designs the SMART Platform, a wireless sensor system for contact-free, real-time cell culture monitoring in biomanufacturing. The company serves biomanufacturing and cell and gene therapy manufacturers through OEM integrations with Wilson Wolf and IBI Scientific.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Bioprocess Monitoring Sensors

NAICS

Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing (334516), Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing (33451), Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing (334519)

SIC

Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826), Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823)

akta.pro primary industry

Cell Culture & Bioprocess Lab Equipment (Bioreactors, Single-Use Systems, Controllers) (HLAGAIAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Biosensors & Lab-on-Chip (BioMEMS) (HDAHALAK)

Keywords

• Wireless bioprocess sensors
• Cell culture monitoring
• Biomanufacturing analytics
• Real-time metabolite tracking
• Single-use sensor systems

Headquarters

HQ city

Ames

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, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. SMART Sensor Sales: Sale of SMART sensors integrated into partner cell culture vessels (G-Rex, Tunair flask, flow cells). Sensors are applied during production and sterilized before shipment to customers.
2. Reader Hardware Sales: Sale of reader devices (SensoRex benchtop reader, continuous readers) for monitoring cell growth in SMART-enabled vessels.
3. OEM Hardware Kits: Supply of hardware kits containing SIB board, inductive coupler, and SD card with Skroot software for partners integrating SMART technology.
4. Development Services: Custom development services to assist in new product design and integration work for cell culture vessel manufacturers.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Skroot Laboratory develops and sells the SMART wireless sensor platform for contact-free, real-time monitoring of cell culture conditions during biotherapeutic manufacturing. The system consists of passive single-use sensors that communicate wirelessly with a reader, delivering continuous multi-parameter data and the proprietary Skroot Growth Index to biomanufacturers via a cloud dashboard. Hardware, integration kits and development services are delivered through OEM partnerships with vessel manufacturers such as Wilson Wolf and IBI Scientific.

Product overview

Skroot Laboratory offers the SMART (Single-use, Metabolite Absorbing, Resonant Transducer) Platform as its core technology for contact-free, real-time cell culture monitoring. The platform consists of proprietary sensors integrated into partner cell culture vessels, paired with readers (benchtop and continuous models), and cloud-connected software. The product portfolio includes the SensoRex Benchtop Platform and SMART G-Rex Continuous Platform (both Wilson Wolf partnerships), the SMART-Cell Platform and SMART Tunair Flask Platform (both IBI Scientific partnerships). The company also offers OEM sensors and hardware kits for integration into third-party vessels. The platform leverages the Skroot Growth Index (SGI) metric to track cell progression, eliminate manual sampling, and enable harvest optimization across bacteria, yeast, insect, and mammalian cell lines.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SMART Platform: Single-use, Metabolite Absorbing, Resonant Transducer platform for real-time cell culture monitoring
• SensoRex
• SMART-Cell Platform
• SMART Tunair Platform

Products and services

• SMART Sensor Platform (OEM Sensors) Single-use, passive, battery-free wireless resonant sensors, readers and integration kits supplied to vessel manufacturers for embedding real-time, multi-parameter (pH, dissolved oxygen, glucose, lactate, temperature, osmolality) cell-culture monitoring inside single-use vessels.
• Smart Systems Hardware Kits OEM-oriented hardware kits (sensor modules, readers, gateways and accessories) that enable vessel manufacturers to embed Skroot's wireless SMART sensing system directly into their single-use bioreactor and cell-culture vessel product lines.
• SensoRex Benchtop Platform Benchtop-format SMART sensor platform designed for users currently running benchtop cell-culture vessels and planning to scale, including modular connectivity to the Skroot cloud dashboard and Skroot Growth Index analytics.
• SMART G-Rex Continuous Platform Continuous-monitoring platform combining SMART sensors with Wilson Wolf G-Rex vessels to provide real-time, in-vessel wireless monitoring of adherent cell culture for cell-and-gene-therapy manufacturing.
• SMART-Cell Platform SMART-Cell platform designed for real-time wireless monitoring of pluripotent stem cells, mesenchymal stromal cells and other cell-therapy-relevant cell types in single-use culture formats.
• SMART Tunair Flask Platform SMART-integrated Tunair flask platform providing wireless, in-flask monitoring of cell-culture critical process parameters for benchtop and process-development workflows.
• Development Services Custom product development services that adapt Skroot Laboratory's SMART sensor platform to client-specific vessels, workflows or research needs, complementing OEM sensor and hardware kit sales.

Quantifiable outcome

• Scans completed in under 30 seconds without biosafety cabinet requirement
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Wilson Wolf Manufacturing LLCcoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing Partner · 1 January 2026Flagship partnership integrating SMART sensors into Wilson Wolf's market-leading G-Rex vessels for cell and gene therapy production. Two product lines: SensoRex Benchtop Platform (Q1 2026 launch) for periodic scanning, and Continuous Platform (later 2026) for real-time incubator monitoring. The G-Rex is recognized as the market leader in scalability, simplicity, and reliability for cell and gene therapy manufacturing.
• IBI ScientificcoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing Partner · 1 January 2026Partnership integrating SMART sensors into IBI Scientific cell culture products. Two platforms: SMART-Cell Platform (Q2 2026) using flow cells for fermenter/bioreactor sampling, and SMART Tunair Flask Platform (2026) for shake flask monitoring in incubators. Both products leverage IBI Scientific's established vessel manufacturing capabilities.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Hamilton Company: Hamilton is a direct competitor in online bioprocess analytics, offering capacitance-based biomass sensors (Incyte) and multi-parameter analyzers for cell culture monitoring in bioreactors and fermenters — the same core use case Skroot's SMART platform addresses for real-time cell growth tracking.
• Aber Instruments: Aber is a direct competitor specializing in capacitance-based live biomass monitoring for mammalian cell culture and fermentation. Its Futura and Biomass systems target the same continuous-monitoring use cases (especially CGT and biologics manufacturing) that Skroot's passive metabolite sensor serves.

Broad incumbents

• Mettler Toledo: Mettler Toledo is a broad incumbent in process analytics, offering in-line pH, dissolved oxygen, and biomass probes for bioreactors. Its Ingold and Thornton product lines overlap directly with the bioprocess sensor category Skroot is entering, with the advantage of a globally installed base.
• Sartorius AG: Sartorius is a broad incumbent in bioprocess equipment and PAT, offering bioreactors, sensors, and process analytics (including the former IntelliCyt cell analysis portfolio). Its scale, installed base, and bundled offerings make it the most threatening incumbent competitor to Skroot's sensor layer in the cell and gene therapy manufacturing market.
• Cytiva (Danaher): Cytiva (owned by Danaher) supplies Xuri cell expansion systems, bioreactors, and process development tools to cell and gene therapy manufacturers. Its broad portfolio and global commercial reach overlap with Skroot's CGT manufacturing customer segment, particularly through the Xuri W25 and similar perfusion/reactor platforms.
• Eppendorf SE: Eppendorf supplies bioreactors (BioFlo), shake flasks, and cell culture consumables to biomanufacturing and research customers. Its vessel-and-instrument portfolio overlaps with the cell culture vessel markets that Skroot's OEM partners (Wilson Wolf, IBI Scientific) serve, making it a potential channel and technology competitor.

Others

• Wilson Wolf Manufacturing: Wilson Wolf is Skroot's flagship OEM partner and the maker of the G-Rex vessel platform that dominates cell and gene therapy expansion. While not a direct competitor (it distributes Skroot's technology), its strategic importance to Skroot's go-to-market makes it the most economically significant company in Skroot's ecosystem.
• IBI Scientific: IBI Scientific is Skroot's second OEM partner, integrating SMART into its Tunair shake flasks and flow cells. Like Wilson Wolf, it is a vessel manufacturer whose installed base defines Skroot's distribution surface area in bioprocess and academic research markets.

Emerging players

• Cerillo (Strateos): Cerillo builds low-cost, real-time co-culture monitoring systems for academic and small-scale bioprocess applications. While focused on research-scale rather than GMP manufacturing, its low-cost continuous-monitoring approach overlaps with the same unmet need (eliminating manual sampling) that SMART addresses.
• Solida Biotech GmbH: Solida is an emerging player offering online monitoring sensors and software for single-use bioreactors. Its single-use sensor approach for flexible bioprocess monitoring overlaps with Skroot's disposable sensor strategy and represents a similarly positioned early-stage technology competitor.

Market position

Strengths2 records

Weaknesses2 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/skroot-laboratory-inc
• Xx.com/skrootlab

Compliance16 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 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 Skroot Laboratory