Q-linea
Q-linea AB (Nasdaq Stockholm: QLINEA) is a Swedish medical technology company that develops and commercializes ASTar, a CE-IVD marked rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing system delivering results in approximately 6 hours for hospital clinical laboratories managing sepsis and bloodstream infections.
- Company typePublic
- Founded2008
- HeadquartersUppsala, Sweden
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Q-linea does
Q-linea AB is a Swedish medical technology company headquartered in Uppsala, founded in 2008, and publicly listed on Nasdaq Stockholm under the ticker QLINEA. The company develops and commercializes the ASTar system, a CE-IVD marked rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) platform designed for hospital clinical microbiology laboratories. ASTar delivers results in approximately 6 hours directly from positive blood cultures, compared with approximately 48 hours for traditional AST methods, addressing a critical bottleneck in sepsis treatment and antimicrobial resistance management. The system combines automated sample preparation with high-content imaging and algorithm-based interpretation, accelerated by NVIDIA GPU computing (CUDA, cuDNN, TensorRT), to produce accurate minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values.
Q-linea's commercial product portfolio centers on the ASTar instrument, the ASTar Kit (sample preparation cassettes and discs), and the Podler accessory. Revenue is generated through capital instrument sales, recurring consumables, and flexible commercial models including instrument rental and reagent rental, with 6-12 week typical installation lead times. The company distributes primarily through direct enterprise sales to hospital laboratories, supplemented by a distributor portal for channel partners. As of December 2025, ASTar has been implemented at two initial US hospital systems alongside established European reference customers such as Uppsala University Hospital, with dedicated US sales and support infrastructure already in place. The company is pursuing US FDA 510(k) clearance, holds ISO 13485:2016 certification, and has supplemented its capital structure with rights issues in 2024 and 2025 alongside its Nasdaq Stockholm listing.
The company serves hospital clinical laboratories, infectious disease clinicians, and antimicrobial stewardship programs. Clinical evidence presented at ASM Microbe 2025 demonstrated 95.7% categorical agreement for antibiotic-resistant organisms and potential to enable earlier treatment de-escalation in 59% of cases. Leadership includes founder/CEO Jonas Jarvius together with functional CXOs covering finance, science, operations, commercial, technology, and medical affairs; an interim CFO was appointed during the 2025 capital-raising and US expansion phase.
Q-linea firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Q-linea
- Legal name
- Q-linea AB
- Website
- https://qlinea.com
- Company type
- Public
- Founded year
- 2008
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Q-linea AB (Nasdaq Stockholm: QLINEA) is a Swedish medical technology company that develops and commercializes ASTar, a CE-IVD marked rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing system delivering results in approximately 6 hours for hospital clinical laboratories managing sepsis and bloodstream infections.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Q-linea industry classification
Industry- Product category
- In Vitro Diagnostics / Clinical Microbiology Instruments
- NAICS
- Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing (33451)
- SIC
- Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Quality Control, Calibrators, Standards & Proficiency Testing (IVD Consumables) (HLAHAAAL)
Keywords
Where Q-linea is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Uppsala
- HQ country
- Sweden
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Q-linea business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- ASTar Instrument Sales: Capital purchase of ASTar instruments to hospital laboratories. The instrument is sold directly to healthcare institutions for installation in clinical microbiology labs. This represents the primary revenue driver for initial customer acquisition.
- Reagent and Consumables Sales: Recurring revenue from sale of ASTar kits including sample preparation cassettes and AST discs. These consumables are required for each test run, creating recurring revenue from the installed instrument base.
- Rental and Reagent Rental Models: Alternative commercial models including rental of instruments and reagent rental arrangements. These flexible options reduce upfront capital requirements for hospital customers and provide predictable recurring revenue streams.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | One time/ perpetual license | Capital Purchase - Direct instrument acquisition |
| Subscription | Monthly | Rental Model - Instrument leasing option |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Reagent Rental - Consumables-based model |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Q-linea product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Q-linea develops, manufactures, and sells the ASTar system, a CE-IVD marked rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) instrument that is fully automated and delivers results directly from positive blood cultures in approximately 6 hours. The company also sells proprietary consumables (ASTar Kit cassettes and discs) required to operate the instrument, generating recurring revenue from the installed base of hospital laboratory customers.
Product overview
Q-linea offers a focused diagnostic product portfolio centered on the ASTar system, a rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing platform designed to improve sepsis treatment outcomes. ASTar is a fully automated instrument that works directly with positive blood cultures, delivering results in approximately 6 hours compared to traditional methods that can take 48 hours or more. The product line includes the core ASTar instrument, ASTar Kit (sample preparation cassettes and discs), and Podler accessory. All products are designed for hospital laboratory use to help determine optimal antibiotic treatment for patients with bloodstream infections.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- ASTar System A CE-IVD marked rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) system that is fully automated and delivers results directly from positive blood cultures in approximately 6 hours. Designed for use in hospital clinical microbiology laboratories to determine the best antibiotic treatment for patients with sepsis and bloodstream infections.
- ASTar Kit Proprietary consumable kit for the ASTar system including sample preparation cassettes and discs required to obtain AST results directly from clinical samples. Sold as a recurring consumable to hospital laboratory customers operating the ASTar instrument.
- Podler Accessory component of the ASTar system, supporting the broader ASTar workflow in hospital laboratory settings.
Quantifiable outcome
- 95.7% categorical agreement for antibiotic-resistant organisms in AST
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Q-linea
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Q-linea technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature6 records
Q-linea partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- NVIDIAcoreNVIDIA provides GPU computing technology (CUDA, cuDNN, TensorRT) that powers ASTar's image analysis and machine learning capabilities. The third-party licenses page documents extensive NVIDIA software components integrated into the ASTar system for accelerated computing tasks.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves9 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Q-linea competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Roche Diagnostics: Offers a broad clinical microbiology and blood-culture workflow portfolio (including the cobas systems) and serves the same hospital lab decision-makers as Q-linea, providing competitive context for AST purchasing decisions.
- Beckman Coulter: Provides the MicroScan WalkAway AST system widely used in hospital microbiology labs. A direct workflow competitor to ASTar and part of a broader diagnostics portfolio that gives Beckman Coulter cross-selling advantages.
- bioMérieux: Global leader in clinical microbiology with the VITEK 2 AST system and BACT/ALERT blood culture portfolio. Competes head-to-head with ASTar in hospital microbiology labs and has the installed base, menu breadth, and reimbursement leverage that Q-linea must displace.
- Bruker: Sells the MALDI Biotyper for microbial ID and the MBT Sepsityper workflow that accelerates ID directly from positive blood cultures. Often used alongside AST in clinical microbiology, making Bruker an adjacent incumbent in the workflow Q-linea targets.
- Becton Dickinson (BD): Sells the BD Phoenix M50 AST system and BD MAX molecular platform, alongside a leading blood culture franchise. Overlaps with Q-linea across hospital AST workflows and benefits from a much larger sales, support, and menu footprint.
Direct peers
- Accelerate Diagnostics: Develops the Accelerate Pheno system, a rapid AST platform that delivers phenotypic susceptibility results from positive blood cultures in hours. Directly comparable to Q-linea's ASTar in clinical use case, target customer (hospital microbiology labs), and rapid-from-blood-culture workflow.
- T2 Biosystems: Develops rapid molecular diagnostics (T2Candida, T2Bacteria) for bloodstream infections direct from whole blood. Targets the same sepsis-decision-support use case as ASTar, albeit via a molecular rather than phenotypic approach.
Emerging players
- Selux Diagnostics: Develops the Next Generation Phenotyping (NGP) rapid AST platform intended to deliver same-shift AST from clinical samples. A focused emerging competitor in the same rapid AST category as ASTar.
- Specific Diagnostics: Develops a rapid phenotypic AST system using proprietary sensor-based detection of bacterial metabolism. Competes with Q-linea in the rapid AST-for-bloodstream-infections niche but at an earlier commercial stage.
Others
- Copan Diagnostics: Leading manufacturer of pre-analytical microbiology sample collection and transport products used in hospital labs running AST. Functionally adjacent as a workflow partner/supplier feeding the same microbiology pipeline Q-linea serves.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Q-linea social profiles
Digital presenceQ-linea compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Q-linea financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Q-linea leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
Q-linea funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Q-linea 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 Q-linea
What does Q-linea do?
Q-linea develops, manufactures, and sells the ASTar system, a CE-IVD marked rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) instrument that is fully automated and delivers results directly from positive blood cultures in approximately 6 hours. The company also sells proprietary consumables (ASTar Kit cassettes and discs) required to operate the instrument, generating recurring revenue from the installed base of hospital laboratory customers.
Is Q-linea a public or private company?
Q-linea is a public company. It is classified as public and is currently operating.
When was Q-linea founded?
Q-linea was founded in 2008. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Q-linea based?
Q-linea is headquartered in Uppsala, Sweden, in the Europe region.
How does Q-linea make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. ASTar Instrument Sales are the primary driver. The others are reagent and Consumables Sales and rental and Reagent Rental Models.
Who are Q-linea's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Roche Diagnostics, Beckman Coulter, bioMérieux, Bruker and Becton Dickinson (BD). Direct peers are Accelerate Diagnostics and T2 Biosystems. Emerging players are Selux Diagnostics and Specific Diagnostics. Copan Diagnostics is listed as an others.
Does Q-linea have an API?
No public API is recorded for Q-linea.
What industry is Q-linea in?
Q-linea's product category is In Vitro Diagnostics / Clinical Microbiology Instruments. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAHAAAL, Quality Control, Calibrators, Standards & Proficiency Testing (IVD Consumables). Its NAICS code is 33451 and its SIC code is 3826.