iMEAN
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersToulouse, France
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
iMEAN firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- iMEAN
- Legal name
- iMEAN
- Website
- https://imean-biotech.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
iMEAN industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Computational Biology Services
- NAICS
- Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) (541715)
- SIC
- Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Bioinformatics & Multi-omics Analysis Software (HLAGAJAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Synthetic Biology & Genetic Circuit Design Platforms (pathway engineering, chassis development) (HLAAAIAD), Bioprocess Development & Scale-Up/Scale-Down Platforms (DoE, high-throughput, modeling) (HLAAAJAF), Digital Breeding & Bioinformatics Software (Breeding informatics, decision tools) (AFABALAL)
Keywords
Where iMEAN is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Toulouse
- HQ country
- France
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
iMEAN business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Project-Based R&D Services: iMEAN generates revenue through custom consulting and project-based services where it delivers tailor-made mathematical models, data analyses, and bioinformatics solutions to industrial and academic clients. Services are priced per project and include organism design, feasibility studies, consortia design, digital boost support, multi-omics integration, GWAS, and custom bioinformatics analyses.
- Digital Organism Licensing / Model Delivery: iMEAN delivers genome-scale models (digital twins) as structured outputs, either as one-time deliverables or potentially as licensed models with ongoing support and updates. Models include genome-scale metabolic networks, kinetics models, regulatory networks, and multi-scale models embedded with cellular burden and protein secretion machinery.
- Software and Web Platform Services: iMEAN develops custom software applications, web interfaces, and genomic databases for clients, providing visualization tools, pathway maps, dashboards, and Pathway Tools-based web servers for model exploration.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Custom project-based pricing for Agriculture, Industrial Biotech, and Academic Research solutions |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
iMEAN product offering
Product offeringCore offering
iMEAN builds genome-scale mathematical models ("digital organisms") of living cells — bacteria, fungi, yeast, microalgae, and plants — using constraint-based modeling, multi-omics integration, regulatory network inference, and kinetics modeling. It sells these models together with feasibility studies, organism design, consortia design, and ongoing Digital Boost R&D support to industrial biotech, agriculture, cosmetics, food, and academic clients via project-based engagements.
Product overview
iMEAN is a bioinformatics startup offering a unified biomodeling platform centered on 'digital organisms' — mathematical representations of complex molecular networks in living cells. The platform provides genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs), kinetics models, and regulatory network inference for academic research, agriculture, and industrial biotechnology applications. Services are delivered through four solution verticals: Agriculture, Industrial Biotechnology, Academic Research, and Custom Data Analyses. Key offerings include Organism Design (in silico combinatorial studies), Feasibility Studies, Consortia Design, and Digital Boost (ongoing R&D support). The platform also provides bioinformatics tools including genome assembly/annotation, protein design, pathway identification, and metabolic visualization through partnerships like SRI International's Pathway Tools.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Agriculture Solutions Custom digital organism models and in silico analyses for agricultural R&D clients, including crop breeding, biocontrol, biostimulant, and plant-microbe interaction use cases. Used by crop science companies, plant breeders, and biocontrol developers.
- Industrial Biotechnology Solutions Custom digital organism models and bio-process modeling services for industrial biotech, bio-based chemicals, food ingredient, and cosmetics producers using microbial, fungal, or microalgae-based production platforms.
- Academic Research Solutions Custom mathematical modeling and bioinformatics services for academic laboratories and public research institutions working on fundamental biology, drug discovery, plant biology, and environmental microbiology.
- Custom Data Analyses Tailored bioinformatics workflows combining modeling, biostatistics, and bioinformatics for organizations with specific analytical needs beyond standard service offerings.
- Digital Boost Ongoing R&D support service delivering daily dedicated modeling expertise and technical resources to client teams to reduce failure rates and accelerate bioprocess development.
- Feasibility Study In silico feasibility analysis for biotech projects, modeling industrial scenarios to evaluate expected performance and identify bottlenecks before committing to wet-lab experimentation.
Quantifiable outcome
- R&D failure rate reduction of up to 30% and R&D time/cost savings of up to 50% through digital boost services
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use iMEAN
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
iMEAN technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
AI capability3 records
Feature8 records
iMEAN partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
15 partnerships are on record, tiered major, core, flagship and minor.
- New Wave BiotechmajoriMEAN and New Wave Biotech partner to deliver an integrated modeling workflow combining upstream and downstream bioprocess insights, accelerating scalable bioprocess development. The joint offering simplifies and accelerates the path to scalable bioprocesses.
- Ferments du Futur ConsortiummajoriMEAN joined the Ferments du Futur consortium dedicated to advancing research and innovation in fermented foods and biopreservation. iMEAN contributes expertise in mathematical modeling and Digital FoodTech solutions to accelerate R&D for healthy, sustainable food and the One Health value chain.
- Micropep TechnologiesmajoriMEAN and Micropep collaboration to advance sustainable agriculture by combining complementary expertise in predictive modeling and micropeptide technologies for crop protection and improvement.
- NovobiommajoriMEAN and Novobiom (Belgian biotech startup specializing in mycoremediation) collaborate to develop innovative bioremediation solutions for soil pollutants. iMEAN provides in silico design and optimization using fungal metabolic models, while Novobiom contributes its collection of fungi and enzyme cocktails for on-site depollution.
- INRAE (Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement)coreiMEAN is a spin-off of INRAE, having developed its technology during 10+ years of research at the institution. iMEAN continues to draw expertise from INRAE labs including ToxAlim (Metabolism & Xenobiotics team), LIPME, and RESTORE institute, and benefits from ongoing institutional support.
- LimagrainflagshipThe iCORN project (€2M, France 2030 funded) combines iMEAN's systems biology models with Limagrain's breeding programs to accelerate development of drought-resistant maize varieties. iMEAN builds the most advanced mechanistic model of maize to improve genomic selection. This is a flagship multi-year partnership spanning 5 years with the goal of TRL 9.
- SRI InternationalcoreiMEAN partnered with SRI International to integrate Pathway Tools software into its service offering, enabling iMEAN customers to access in silico models via web interfaces generated by SRI's Pathway Tools. This provides complete analysis pipelines including model construction, web interface setup, and IT maintenance.
- Puratos & LM-UGent (Laboratory of Microbiology of Ghent University)majoriMEAN leads the construction of a genomic database and web interface for 1,000 food-grade microorganisms from LM-UGent's collection for Puratos, enabling identification of enzymes and metabolic pathways for innovative food ingredients. iMEAN provided bioinformatics expertise, software development, and metabolic analysis capabilities.
- CambriummajoriMEAN provides Cambrium (Berlin-based synthetic biology startup developing protein-based biomaterials) with advanced mathematical models to accelerate strain engineering and scale-up. Cambrium's platform combines protein engineering, ML, and lab automation, which is complemented by iMEAN's high-predictive modeling.
- L'OréalcoreiMEAN and L'Oréal published a joint paper in ASM journal on the genome of Sphingobium xenophagum from La Roche-Posay thermal springs. iMEAN provides in silico reconstruction of exotic microorganisms and bioinformatics tools for biodiversity exploration supporting L'Oréal's thermal water research and cosmetic ingredient discovery.
- Bayer Crop SciencecoreBayer Crop Science partners with iMEAN to use digital organisms of plants and plant pathogens to accelerate discovery of new environmentally friendly crop protection products. iMEAN's platform extracts biological insights from Bayer's experimental data on substances and supports design of innovative chemistry at early discovery stages.
- BIOMED AllianceminoriMEAN joined BIOMED Alliance, the largest cluster of biomedical companies in Occitanie with over 80 member companies. The membership federates local actors to develop biotech business in France and across borders, with iMEAN contributing in silico tools for oncology and microbiota engineering.
- NeoplantsmajoriMEAN set up a modeling platform for Neoplants (Parisian biotech startup developing bioengineered ornamental plants for air pollution). iMEAN designs highly predictive plant models combining complex metabolic networks and plant biology expertise to support fast and successful bioengineering projects.
- EU Project DIVAminoriMEAN's 'Digital Seed' project was selected by EU Project DIVA for funding. The project aims to boost crop breeding through digital organisms. Over 350 SMEs applied to the DIVA Open Call with 255 proposals submitted.
- TWB (Toulouse White Biotechnology)coreiMEAN integrates the TWB ecosystem — a pre-industrial demonstrator in industrial biotechnology (UMS under INRAE, INSA, CNRS). TWB provides wet lab capabilities (Build, Test) complementing iMEAN's dry lab modeling (Design, Learn), enabling a Design-Build-Test-Learn cycle. The partnership was strengthened in 2021 to offer a combined service from dry lab to wet lab, and iMEAN's offices are located within TWB premises.
Scale indicators12 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
iMEAN competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- CytoReason: Israel-based company building cell-level computational models of the human immune system for drug discovery and development. Closely comparable as a model-as-a-service platform serving enterprise biotech/pharma customers.
- Inari Agriculture: US-based seed design company using AI and systems biology to develop high-performing crops (e.g., drought-resistant maize). Closest direct peer to iMEAN's Limagrain/iCORN work — both apply computational biology to crop improvement.
Broad incumbents
- Codexis: Enzyme engineering company using computational and directed evolution approaches to develop industrial biocatalysts. Comparable as a computational biology company serving industrial biotech customers in pharmaceutical and food applications.
- Insitro: Machine learning-driven drug discovery company building predictive models of disease from large-scale biological data. Comparable as a data/ML-led biology company, but focused on therapeutics rather than organism engineering.
- Schrödinger: Computational chemistry and biology platform serving pharma and materials customers with physics-based simulation software. Comparable as a computational biology software vendor; broader scope (chemistry, materials) but similar enterprise SaaS model.
- Recursion Pharmaceuticals: AI-driven drug discovery platform combining high-throughput biology with machine learning. Comparable as a large-scale computational biology platform, though focused on pharma rather than industrial biotech and agriculture.
- Ginkgo Bioworks: US-based organism engineering platform offering end-to-end synthetic biology services across industrial, ag, and pharma. Larger, broader offering than iMEAN's focused metabolic-modeling services, but overlapping on organism design and strain engineering.
- Amyris: Synthetic biology company engineering yeast strains for sustainable ingredient production. Comparable as a synbio company applying computational biology to industrial strain engineering, though now restructured and focused on ingredients.
Emerging players
- TeselaGen: Synthetic biology platform combining AI with lab automation for DNA design and strain engineering workflows. Comparable as a bioinformatics/informatics platform for synbio customers, though more focused on DNA construct design.
- Benchling: Cloud-based platform for biology R&D with LIMS, ELN, and molecular biology tools. Comparable as a life science informatics platform for biotech R&D teams, though broader and more horizontal than iMEAN's modeling-specific offering.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
iMEAN social profiles
Digital presenceiMEAN financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
iMEAN leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
iMEAN funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
iMEAN 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 iMEAN
What does iMEAN do?
iMEAN builds genome-scale mathematical models ("digital organisms") of living cells — bacteria, fungi, yeast, microalgae, and plants — using constraint-based modeling, multi-omics integration, regulatory network inference, and kinetics modeling. It sells these models together with feasibility studies, organism design, consortia design, and ongoing Digital Boost R&D support to industrial biotech, agriculture, cosmetics, food, and academic clients via project-based engagements.
Is iMEAN a public or private company?
iMEAN is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was iMEAN founded?
iMEAN was founded in 2018. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is iMEAN based?
iMEAN is headquartered in Toulouse, France, in the Europe region.
How does iMEAN make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Project-Based R&D Services are the primary driver. The others are digital Organism Licensing / Model Delivery and software and Web Platform Services.
Who are iMEAN's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are CytoReason and Inari Agriculture. Broad incumbents are Codexis, Insitro, Schrödinger, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Ginkgo Bioworks and Amyris. Emerging players are TeselaGen and Benchling.
Does iMEAN have an API?
No public API is recorded for iMEAN.
What industry is iMEAN in?
iMEAN's product category is Computational Biology Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAGAJAD, Bioinformatics & Multi-omics Analysis Software, with a secondary code of HLAAAIAD, Synthetic Biology & Genetic Circuit Design Platforms (pathway engineering, chassis development). Its NAICS code is 541714 and its SIC code is 8731.