What SG Papertronics does

SG Papertronics B.V. is a privately held Dutch research and development firm, headquartered at Blauwborgje 31 in Groningen, Netherlands, that builds portable, lab-grade (bio)chemical testing systems. Its underlying platform, branded Q-Tector, centers on a patented microfluidic sample concentrator that enhances optical read-out signals by up to 10,000x, paired with an adjustable 380-700 nm light source, a camera-based colorimetric and fluorescent read-out, proprietary machine-learning algorithms and an end-to-end cloud data platform. The flagship commercial product is the Beer-o-Meter, an integrated lab-in-a-box device that measures pH, total fermentable sugars, alcohol percentage, beer color, bitterness and acidity in 5-15 minutes at laboratory accuracy, targeted at craft brewers; a second product, Crop Sentinel, extends the same platform to continuous chemical and microbiological monitoring of soil, water and plant health for potato cultivation, validated from 2026 with Bioclear Earth in the Northern Netherlands.

The company monetizes through a combination of hardware sales (the Beer-o-Meter device plus proprietary test pods and assay consumables), recurring cloud-software services (the SG Papertronics Cloud Platform for process optimization, quality management and prediction models), and custom development work for high-volume markets, supplemented by pilot projects and paid trials that lower adoption risk for new customers. GTM is event-driven and sales-led, anchored on industry trade-show presence (CES 2025, CBC26, Flinc Pitch Camp), direct B2B outreach, and a consumer-facing website (testmybeer.com) for the Beer-o-Meter. Distribution is currently concentrated in the Netherlands with US-market validation in progress, and the customer base is small, comprising local Groningen pilots (Brouwerij Martinus, BaxBier), a microbial-fermentation partner (EV Biotech), and an MIT R&D consortium with Levels Diagnostics and Omnigen that explored a liver-damage diagnostic prototype.

Capitalization has been dominated by regional Dutch public and quasi-public sources: a 2020-2021 early-phase equity round from NOM and RUG Holding (with an additional ~$811,576 round recorded in October 2021), a €20,000 Flinc Pitch Camp loan, and roughly €350,000 in MIT R&D subsidies from SNN and the Province of Zuid Holland. Headcount remains at approximately 9-10 people, the team is led by founder-CEO Maciej Grajewski, and the company holds no public APIs or SDKs, relying on direct customer integration of its hardware-plus-cloud offering.

Name

SG Papertronics

Legal name

SG Papertronics B.V.

Website

https://sgpapertronics.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

SG Papertronics B.V. is a Dutch R&D firm that builds portable, lab-grade (bio)chemical testing devices on a patented microfluidic platform. Its flagship Beer-o-Meter serves craft brewers, with Crop Sentinel extending the technology to agriculture and additional applications in development.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Lab Testing Equipment

NAICS

Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing (334516), Totalizing Fluid Meter and Counting Device Manufacturing (334514)

SIC

Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826)

akta.pro primary industry

In-Field Sensor Hardware (Soil Moisture/Nutrient, Weather, Canopy Sensors) (AFABAMAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Quality Documentation & Digital QMS (SOPs, CAPA, Change Control, Recordkeeping) (AFALALAD), Carbon, Sustainability & Traceability MRV (Field-Level Measurement/Reporting/Verification) (AFABAMAK), On-Site Water Testing & Rapid Screening Services (Field Kits, Sensors, ATP) (AFALAJAI)

Keywords

• Paper-based microfluidics
• Portable lab testing
• Craft brewing analytics
• Agricultural sensor monitoring
• Process quality control

Headquarters

HQ city

Groningen

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Hardware sales (Beer-o-Meter device, test pods and assay consumables): Sells the Beer-o-Meter device together with proprietary test pods and (bio)chemical assays; product is a pleasure-to-use, affordable plug-and-play testing system.
2. End-to-end cloud platform / data services: Cloud platform converts device data into real-time process optimization, quality management and prediction models, providing an end-to-end software offering around the hardware.
3. Custom development & integration services: Customer-centric custom development of dedicated solutions for high-volume markets, including customization of hardware, software and (bio)chemical tests for specific applications, carried out sustainably (re-/upcycling of components).
4. Pilot projects and paid trials: Commercial approach of offering breweries small pilot projects and paid trials to reduce perceived risk, build trust and demonstrate operational value before full deployment.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

SG Papertronics develops and manufactures portable, lab-grade testing and analytics devices built on a patented microfluidic sample concentrator paired with proprietary machine-learning algorithms. Its flagship commercial product, the Beer-o-Meter, is a compact device used by craft breweries to measure pH, total fermentable sugars, alcohol percentage, bitterness, acidity and beer color in 5–15 minutes with laboratory-level accuracy, and is paired with an end-to-end cloud data platform. A second productized application, Crop Sentinel, applies the same Q-Tector sensor platform to continuous chemical and microbiological monitoring of soil, water and plant health for potato cultivation.

Product overview

SG Papertronics offers a single underlying patented platform — the Q-Tector sensor technology, built around a microfluidic sample concentrator and proprietary machine-learning algorithms — on top of which it ships multiple productized applications. The flagship commercial product is the Beer-o-Meter, a portable, intuitive, lab-grade testing and analytics device for craft brewers (and a future point-of-care market) that measures parameters such as pH, total fermentable sugars, alcohol %, beer color, bitterness, and acidity in 5–15 minutes. The second product, Crop Sentinel, applies the same Q-Tector platform to continuous chemical and microbiological monitoring of soil, water, and plant health for sustainable potato cultivation in the Northern Netherlands (in collaboration with Bioclear Earth, validating from 2026 within the Fascinating program). All Q-Tector / Beer-o-Meter / Crop Sentinel data flows into the SG Papertronics Cloud Platform, an end-to-end software layer for process optimization, quality management, prediction models, and data-driven decision-making. Earlier R&D efforts — the MIT R&D-subsidized online glucose sensor for microbial fermentation (with EV Biotech, 2020) and the MIT R&D collaboration grant liver-damage assay (consortium with Levels Diagnostics and Omnigen, 2021) — extend the same paper-based microfluidic platform into bioprocess and clinical point-of-care diagnostics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Beer-o-Meter: World's first integrated lab-grade testing and data analytics device for the craft brewing industry; a portable, pleasure-to-use testing platform that measures pH, total fermentable sugars, alcohol %, beer color, bitterness, acidity and more.
• Crop Sentinel
• Q-Tector

Products and services

• Beer-o-Meter Portable, intuitive, lab-grade testing and data analytics device for the craft-brewing market. Built on SG Papertronics' patented microfluidic sample concentrator and proprietary machine-learning algorithms, it measures pH, total fermentable sugars, alcohol %, beer color, bitterness and acidity and delivers laboratory-level results in 5–15 minutes, with data flowing into the SG Papertronics Cloud Platform.
• Crop Sentinel Monitoring solution for potato cultivation built on the Q-Tector sensor technology, enabling continuous chemical and microbiological analysis of soil, water and plant health. It provides farmers with actionable data to fine-tune fertilization, irrigation and crop management, and is being validated within the Fascinating program in the Northern Netherlands in collaboration with Bioclear Earth.
• SG Papertronics Cloud Platform End-to-end cloud software platform that converts data from the Beer-o-Meter and Crop Sentinel into real-time information for process optimization, quality management and data-driven decision-making. It supports the creation of prediction models and integration into customers' quality-management processes across food & beverage, soil health, smart agriculture, waste-water management and consumer vital-signs applications.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduces analysis time from days to a couple of minutes while delivering laboratory-level accuracy
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability8 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CBC26 / BrewExpo America 2026 (Philadelphia)coreGTM or Marketing Partner · 29 April 2026SG Papertronics exhibited at CBC26 and BrewExpo America 2026 in Philadelphia to build relationships with brewers, suppliers, laboratories, consultants, yeast companies and brewing organizations, validate the market, refine the value proposition and offer pilot projects and paid trials.
• Bioclear EarthcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Collaboration to validate Crop Sentinel within the Fascinating program from 2026 to optimize potato growth in the Northern Netherlands. The system uses Q-Tector sensor technology for real-time chemical and microbiological analysis of soil, water, and plant health, combining high-resolution analytics with digital modelling to support data-driven potato cultivation.
• CES 2025 (Las Vegas)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 13 November 2024SG Papertronics exhibited at CES 2025 in Las Vegas to showcase its lab-in-a-box solution for the food and beverage sector, meet partners and clients, and discuss the company's value proposition of up to 15% output increase and over 10% waste reduction.
• Levels DiagnosticscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 January 2021Consortium partner (with Omnigen and SG Papertronics) in the MIT R&D collaboration grant. By combining expertise in clinical biomarker development, bioinformatics and paper-based microfluidics, the consortium developed a novel liver damage assay over a 2-year period, with a total project budget of €1,000,000 and €349,996 subsidy from the province of Zuid Holland.
• OmnigencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 January 2021Consortium partner (with Levels Diagnostics and SG Papertronics) in the MIT R&D collaboration grant; contributed bioinformatics expertise to develop a novel liver damage assay that quickly identifies early signs of liver damage in patients.
• EV BiotechcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 December 2020Joint one-year MIT R&D subsidy project (top-ranked by SNN) to develop an online glucose sensor for microbial fermentation. SG Papertronics applies its microfluidic knowledge to reduce sample volume and labour for glucose testing, with EV Biotech validating the solution for microbial strain optimization.
• Brouwerij MartinusminorOthers · 24 September 2020Local Groningen craft brewery collaborating with SG Papertronics on Beer-O-Meter testing and pilot validation; one of the first brewing partners that recognized the utility of the technology.
• BaxBierminorOthers · 24 September 2020Local Groningen craft brewery collaborating with SG Papertronics on Beer-O-Meter testing and pilot validation; one of the first brewing partners that recognized the utility of the technology.
• Innolab Agrifood (Campus Groningen)minorOthers · 24 September 2020SG Papertronics established itself at Innolab Agrifood, an open innovation lab on Campus Groningen, benefiting from the Campus ecosystem of investors and facilitators.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Agilent Technologies: Agilent is a leading provider of analytical measurement instruments and consumables for food, environmental, and life sciences applications. As a broad incumbent with deep analytical instrument portfolios, it represents the kind of larger competitor that could expand downward into SG Papertronics' portable/mid-market niches.
• Bruker Corporation: Bruker is a global manufacturer of scientific and analytical instruments, including mass spectrometers, NMR, and applied analytical solutions for food and beverage. It is a broad incumbent that competes for the same analytical instrument budgets, though without SG Papertronics' portable, low-cost, ML-driven positioning for craft brewers and field users.
• Mettler Toledo: Mettler Toledo is a global leader in precision instruments for laboratory and industrial measurement (pH, conductivity, density, refractometry), directly relevant to the (bio)chemical parameters that the Beer-o-Meter measures. It serves similar QA/QC buyer personas in breweries and food producers with established channels.
• Endress+Hauser: Endress+Hauser is a major supplier of industrial process measurement instrumentation, including analytical sensors for liquids and food/beverage processes. Comparable to SG Papertronics at the process analytics level, though oriented to large industrial customers rather than craft breweries or smallholder farms.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific: Thermo Fisher offers an extensive portfolio of analytical laboratory instruments, consumables, and software for food, beverage, environmental, and clinical testing. Comparable to SG Papertronics only at the broad laboratory-instrument level, it provides a useful valuation/scale benchmark for where a successful platform could be headed.

Emerging players

• Tellspec: Tellspec builds portable, cloud-connected spectroscopic tools for food and beverage quality and authenticity testing. Like SG Papertronics, it targets on-site, non-specialist users with portable hardware and a data platform, making it a comparable emerging peer in the portable food/beverage analytics niche.
• Consumer Physics (SCiO): Consumer Physics' SCiO is a handheld NIR spectrometer marketed for material analysis (food, beverages, agriculture) with a companion app and cloud platform. It is comparable to SG Papertronics' portable colorimetric/fluorescent reader approach, though focused on spectroscopy rather than microfluidic assays.
• trinamiX (BASF): trinamiX develops miniaturized NIR spectroscopy modules and consumer/industrial applications including food and feed analysis. Backed by BASF, it represents an emerging entrant in portable molecular analysis with a comparable go-to-market of on-device read-outs plus cloud insights.

Direct peers

• Anton Paar: Anton Paar is the dominant supplier of lab and process instruments for the brewing industry (e.g., Alcolyzer, CarboQC, PBA-B beer analyzer), directly competing with the Beer-o-Meter for craft brewery QC budgets. Its dense installed base in breweries worldwide and broad portfolio of beer-specific analyzers make it the most directly comparable incumbent for SG Papertronics' flagship product.
• optek (Hach/Veralto): optek specializes in inline and at-line process analytics for brewing and beverage production, including color, turbidity, and concentration sensors used in real-time QC. It is a direct analogue to SG Papertronics' "lab-in-a-box, real-time process monitoring" value proposition and overlaps with the craft and mid-sized brewery customer segment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors2 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 SG Papertronics