mzio
mzio GmbH commercializes mzmine, an open-source mass spectrometry data analysis platform used by 10,000+ researchers globally for metabolomics, lipidomics, and MS imaging across academic labs and commercial enterprises via tiered licensing.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersBremen, Germany
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What mzio does
mzio GmbH is a German private limited company headquartered in Bremen that develops and commercializes mzmine, an open-source mass spectrometry data analysis platform with 20 years of underlying R&D heritage. The platform supports multimodal data analysis across LC-MS, GC-MS, ion mobility spectrometry-MS, and MS imaging workflows, with proprietary modules including mzwizard for automated workflow generation, Interactive Molecular Networking (IIN/FBMN) embedding DreaMS and MS2Deepscore deep learning models, and a Statistics and Fragmentation Dashboard with MS2-based formula prediction. The architecture is modular and open-source, enabling independent module development by global contributors and supporting broad vendor format compatibility (Waters MassLynx, Thermo, Bruker, SCIEX, mzML).
mzio operates a hybrid go-to-market combining community-led open-source adoption with enterprise SaaS. Distribution is structured as four tiers: Community (free for academic users at degree-awarding institutions), CORE (commercial use for teams up to 3 users), PLUS (labs up to 5 users with email support and IT integration), and PRO (enterprise-grade with MRM and UV/ELSD detector support). The academic Community edition has accumulated 10,000+ active users and 6,000+ peer-reviewed citations, providing top-of-funnel demand for commercial conversion. Strategic partnerships with SCIEX (embedded in SCIEX OS 5.0 for ZenoTOF), Bright Giant (one-click SIRIUS integration), and the Functional Genomics Center Zurich (metabolomics/lipidomics co-development) extend distribution and ecosystem reach.
The company is led by Managing Director Dr. Ansgar Korf alongside four co-founders spanning CEO (Korf), CTO (Steffen Heuckeroth), CFO (Ludger Rothues), and scientific advisory (Tomáš Pluskal) functions. Revenue is generated primarily through tiered commercial software licensing with a minimum one-year commitment, supplemented by non-dilutive EU/ZIM and German state grants totaling approximately €517,758 across two tranches (August 2024 and May 2026). No private equity or venture capital investment is disclosed, and revenue figures are not publicly available. The customer base spans academic research institutions, analytical and scientific labs, biopharma/pharma/biotech/CRO segments, and specialized use cases including lipidomics, MS imaging, polymer/PFAS analysis, and drug discovery.
mzio firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- mzio
- Legal name
- mzio GmbH
- Website
- https://mzio.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- mzio GmbH commercializes mzmine, an open-source mass spectrometry data analysis platform used by 10,000+ researchers globally for metabolomics, lipidomics, and MS imaging across academic labs and commercial enterprises via tiered licensing.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
mzio industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Mass Spectrometry Data Analysis Software
- NAICS
- Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)
- SIC
- Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826)
- akta.pro primary industry
- AI/ML Platforms for Drug Discovery & Experiment Optimization (HLAGAJAO)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Proteomics & Mass Spectrometry Services (HLAGANAB)
Keywords
Where mzio is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Bremen
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
mzio business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others
Revenue model
- Software Licensing (Commercial): Tiered commercial licensing model for mzmine software: CORE (commercial use, small teams up to 3 users), PLUS (email support, IT integration, onboarding, labs up to 5 users), and PRO (enterprise-grade with MRM support, UV/ELSD detectors, maximized lab performance). All plans include unlimited updates and software access per selected plan with minimum 1-year commitment.
- Academic/Community Licensing: Free-of-charge access for students, teachers, and researchers at degree-awarding academic institutions through the Academic Program. Provides full Community edition for educational and non-commercial research purposes.
- Research Grants & Government Funding: Non-dilutive funding from EU and German government programs supporting R&D for AI-powered FAIR-MS initiative and LIMMIC project for multidimensional MS calibration.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Annual | Community - Free for academics |
| Subscription | Annual | CORE - Commercial use for small teams |
| Subscription | Annual | PLUS - Enhanced support and integration |
| Subscription | Annual | PRO - Enterprise performance |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
mzio product offering
Product offeringCore offering
mzio develops and commercializes mzmine, an open-source mass spectrometry data analysis platform that processes LC-MS, GC-MS, ion mobility spectrometry-MS, and MS Imaging data for analytical laboratories. The platform is offered through tiered licensing — Community (free for academic users), CORE (commercial use for small teams), PLUS (labs with IT integration and support), and PRO (enterprise-grade for large organizations) — and includes proprietary workflow automation, AI-powered molecular networking, and deep learning spectral comparison.
Product overview
mzio provides mzmine, a scalable mass spectrometry data analysis platform built on 20 years of MS data processing experience with over 6000 citations and 10,000 active users. The product portfolio consists of mzmine as the core platform offering multimodal data analysis for LC-MS, GC-MS, ion mobility spectrometry-MS, and MS Imaging. Distribution tiers include Community (free academic), CORE (commercial small teams), PLUS (labs with IT integration needs), and PRO (enterprise). Supporting tools include mzwizard for workflow automation, Interactive Molecular Networking with DreaMS and MS2Deepscore deep learning models for AI-powered compound discovery, and Statistics/Fragmentation Dashboard for predictive analytics. Documentation includes whitepapers and brochures for enterprise adoption.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- mzmine: Open-source mass spectrometry data analysis platform supporting LC-MS, GC-MS, ion mobility spectrometry-MS, and MS Imaging workflows.
- mzmine Community
- mzmine CORE
- mzmine PLUS
- mzmine PRO
- mzwizard
- Interactive Molecular Networking
- DreaMS
Products and services
- mzmine mass spectrometry data analysis platform Scalable mass spectrometry data analysis platform supporting multimodal data analysis for LC-MS, GC-MS, ion mobility spectrometry-MS, and MS Imaging workflows. Built on an open-source modular architecture with established best-practice algorithms for transforming complex MS data into molecular structures.
- mzmine Community Free tier of mzmine providing software access, unlimited updates, and GitHub Forum support for students, teachers, and researchers at degree-awarding academic institutions.
- mzmine CORE Commercial-use subscription tier of mzmine providing software access for small teams up to 3 users, with a minimum 1-year commitment and unlimited updates.
- mzmine PLUS Subscription tier of mzmine for labs up to 5 users, including email support (max 5 working days response time), IT integration assistance, and an onboarding session.
- mzmine PRO Enterprise-grade subscription tier of mzmine maximizing lab performance with MRM support, UV/ELSD and other detector support, and full feature access for large organizations.
- mzwizard User-friendly workflow wizard for mzmine that auto-generates analysis workflows based on the experimental setup, making complex bioinformatics tools easily accessible for LC-MS/MS (DDA and DIA), GC/EI-MS, MS Imaging, and ion mobility spectrometry setups.
Quantifiable outcome
- Process 1000s of samples within minutes
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use mzio
Customer profileSegments7 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
mzio technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
AI capability6 records
Feature11 records
mzio partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- SCIEX (Danaher)coreSCIEX, a Danaher company and leader in life science analytical technologies, announced mzmine integration as part of SCIEX OS 5.0 software platform for ZenoTOF mass spectrometry line. The integration creates a connected end-to-end solution for proteomics and metabolomics researchers, announced at ASMS 2026 conference.
- Bright Giant GmbHcoreSeamless integration between mzmine and SIRIUS software enabling researchers to launch SIRIUS analysis directly from mzmine feature tables with automated result handling. The integration streamlines small molecule discovery workflows and is available with mzmine version 4.8.
- Functional Genomics Center Zurich (FGCZ, ETH Zurich / University of Zurich)coreStrategic collaboration to advance development of metabolomics and lipidomics tools. mzio partners with FGCZ to bring mzmine PRO into untargeted metabolomics and lipidomics workflows, combining FGCZ's expertise with mzio's software capabilities.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
mzio competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- MetaboAnalyst: Web-based metabolomics data analysis platform from the Xia Lab (McGill) — competing entry point for the same academic researcher audience, particularly for statistical analysis and pathway interpretation downstream of MS feature detection.
- Bright Giant (SIRIUS): Developer of SIRIUS for small molecule identification from MS/MS spectra — an existing integration partner of mzmine but also a stand-alone competitor in the molecular networking and compound ID space.
Broad incumbents
- Agilent MassHunter: Agilent's proprietary mass spectrometry software suite for qualitative, quantitative, and bioconfirmance workflows — a major incumbent whose bundled offerings compete with mzmine's multi-vendor positioning.
- Compound Discoverer (Thermo Fisher Scientific): Thermo Fisher's commercial LC-MS data analysis software bundled with Orbitrap and Tribrid instruments — competes head-on with mzmine PRO in commercial metabolomics, lipidomics, and proteomics workflows within Thermo-installed labs.
- Bruker Compass / MetaboScape: Bruker's portfolio of MS data analysis tools (including MetaboScape for metabolomics) — direct commercial competition within Bruker timsTOF and MALDI-installed bases that mzmine also targets.
Direct peers
- Skyline Software: Open-source targeted quantitative MS software from the MacCoss Lab (University of Washington) — overlapping audience of metabolomics and proteomics researchers with shared vendor-format support.
- MaxQuant: Widely-used quantitative proteomics software from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, serving the same academic and industry proteomics researcher audience with a similarly large citation base and free academic distribution.
- MS-DIAL: Open-source mass spectrometry data analysis platform developed at RIKEN for untargeted metabolomics, lipidomics, and MS imaging — directly competes with mzmine in the same workflows and on free academic distribution.
- OpenMS: Open-source C++/Python framework for LC-MS data management and analysis maintained by HHU Düsseldorf, offering an alternative to mzmine for proteomics and metabolomics workflows in academic and industry settings.
Regional players
- Lipotype (Dortmund/now part of Evotec): European lipidomics services and software company — comparable regional footprint to mzio and overlapping focus on lipidomics workflows, though primarily a fee-for-service CRO model rather than software vendor.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
mzio social profiles
Digital presencemzio financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
mzio leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
mzio funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
mzio 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 mzio
What does mzio do?
mzio develops and commercializes mzmine, an open-source mass spectrometry data analysis platform that processes LC-MS, GC-MS, ion mobility spectrometry-MS, and MS Imaging data for analytical laboratories. The platform is offered through tiered licensing — Community (free for academic users), CORE (commercial use for small teams), PLUS (labs with IT integration and support), and PRO (enterprise-grade for large organizations) — and includes proprietary workflow automation, AI-powered molecular networking, and deep learning spectral comparison.
Is mzio a public or private company?
mzio is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was mzio founded?
mzio was founded in 2020. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is mzio based?
mzio is headquartered in Bremen, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does mzio make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Software Licensing (Commercial) is the primary driver. The others are academic/Community Licensing and research Grants & Government Funding.
Who are mzio's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are MetaboAnalyst and Bright Giant (SIRIUS). Broad incumbents are Agilent MassHunter, Compound Discoverer (Thermo Fisher Scientific) and Bruker Compass / MetaboScape. Direct peers are Skyline Software, MaxQuant, MS-DIAL and OpenMS. Lipotype (Dortmund/now part of Evotec) is listed as a regional player.
Does mzio have an API?
No public API is recorded for mzio.
What industry is mzio in?
mzio's product category is Mass Spectrometry Data Analysis Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAGAJAO, AI/ML Platforms for Drug Discovery & Experiment Optimization, with a secondary code of HLAGANAB, Proteomics & Mass Spectrometry Services. Its NAICS code is 5417 and its SIC code is 3826.