What ProDigest does

ProDigest BV is a privately held Belgian preclinical contract research organization (CRO), founded in 2007 and headquartered in Ghent, Belgium, that provides in vitro gastrointestinal simulation services to pharmaceutical, functional food/feed, and nutrition companies. The company originated from university research that developed the SHIME® (Simulator of Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem) platform and has built the broadest portfolio of validated ex vivo gut models in the industry, including SHIME® and its M-SHIME® mucosal variant, Colon-on-a-plate® and Kinetic Colon-on-a-plate® for high-throughput screening, Short-term colon reactors, an Upper GI tract simulator, the DIAMOD® dissolution-and-permeation platform for small molecule drugs, the MetaKey® metabolomics platform with its SIMON® multi-omics interpretation layer, and SPIME™/SCIME™/SFIME™ animal variants. These platforms are complemented by in vitro host-microbiome interaction cell assays (Caco-2/THP-1 leaky gut, wound healing, adhesion assays) and a biobank of donor microbiomes spanning healthy, diseased, infant, elderly, and animal populations.

ProDigest generates revenue primarily through fee-for-service preclinical GI studies priced per project (typical engagement durations measured in weeks, e.g., nine-week Screening SHIME® turnaround), and secondarily through one-time SHIME® instrument sales and licensing to academic institutions for non-commercial research, plus standalone MetaKey® metabolomics services for clinical and other samples. The company operates with a dedicated business development team, including a North America lead, and an internal R&D budget of over €1M per year. SHIME® has been validated across more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and was awarded a contract by the U.S. FDA's National Center for Toxicological Research as a recognized preclinical GI model, providing rare third-party regulatory validation for the platform.

Name

ProDigest

Legal name

ProDigest BV

Website

https://prodigest.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ProDigest is a Belgian preclinical CRO offering validated in vitro gastrointestinal simulation platforms (SHIME®, Colon-on-a-plate®, DIAMOD®, MetaKey®) and metabolomics services to pharmaceutical, food, feed, and nutrition companies for mechanism-of-action and formulation studies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Preclinical Contract Research Organization (in vitro gastrointestinal simulation and metabolomics services)

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Preclinical CROs (Discovery/Pharmacology/DMPK) (HLAGAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

DMPK / ADME & Bioanalysis (HLAGAFAC), Proteomics & Mass Spectrometry Services (HLAGANAB)

Keywords

• In vitro gastrointestinal simulation
• Preclinical contract research
• Gut microbiome research services
• Metabolomics profiling services
• Drug dissolution testing

Headquarters

HQ city

Gent

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Contract Research Services (CRO): ProDigest operates as a preclinical contract research organization offering fee-for-service GI simulation studies to food, feed, and pharma companies. Studies are tailored to client research questions, priced per project, and typically involve multi-week engagements with deliverables including microbial composition analysis, metabolomics, and host-interaction readouts.
2. SHIME® Instrument Sales & Licensing: ProDigest sells SHIME® technology platforms to academic institutions for non-commercial research purposes, including equipment, training, and continued scientific support. This provides a licensing/one-time revenue stream alongside recurring service revenue.
3. MetaKey® Standalone Metabolomics Services: MetaKey® metabolomics platform is offered as a self-standing service for clinical samples and other in vitro/in vivo samples (urine, blood, saliva, feces, tissues, cells), independent of GI simulation services.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

ProDigest is a preclinical Contract Research Organization (CRO) that designs, runs, and reports customized in vitro gastrointestinal (GI) tract simulation studies — using proprietary SHIME® and related platforms — for pharmaceutical, functional food/feed/nutrition, and drug delivery clients. Each study leverages physiologically representative multi-compartment reactors (stomach through colon) coupled with metabolomics (MetaKey®) and host-microbiome cell assays to generate mechanistic, IVIVC-aligned data on drug dissolution/permeation, probiotic/prebiotic/synbiotic efficacy, digestibility, and gut barrier function. The company also sells SHIME® instrument platforms and training/support to academic institutions for non-commercial research.

Product overview

ProDigest is a preclinical CRO offering a broad portfolio of in vitro gastrointestinal simulation platforms. The core technology is the SHIME® (Simulator of Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem) for full gut simulation. Complementary platforms include Colon-on-a-plate® and Kinetic Colon-on-a-plate® for high-throughput colonic fermentation, Short-term colon for kinetic studies, and Upper GI tract simulator for stomach and small intestine digestion. The MetaKey® metabolomics platform (including SIMON® interpretation layer and Gut Metabolite Profiling with 230 metabolites) integrates with all simulation models for metabolic analysis. Additional platforms include DIAMOD® for drug dissolution/permeation studies, Host-Microbiome Interaction Models (cell assays), and animal-specific variants (SPIME™, SCIME™, SFIMETM). The portfolio also includes M-SHIME® for mucosal simulation and Screening SHIME® for mid-throughput screening.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SHIME®: Simulator of Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem - a full gut simulation technology for long-term microbiome interaction studies
• Colon-on-a-plate®
• MetaKey®
• Screening SHIME®
• DIAMOD®
• M-SHIME®
• Kinetic Colon-on-a-plate®
• SPIME™
• SCIME™
• SFIMETM
• SIMON®

Products and services

• SHIME® Contract Research Services Custom preclinical GI simulation studies using the Simulator of Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME®) — the most representative in vitro technology for combined simulation of the physiological, chemical and microbiological properties of the gastrointestinal tract. Simulates all compartments from stomach through small intestine to proximal and distal colon for pharma, food, feed and nutrition clients, enabling long-term (up to 3 weeks) repeated-dosing, inter-individual variability and population-specific studies.
• M-SHIME® (Mucosal SHIME®) CRO Services SHIME® extended with a mucosal 'compartment' simulating the microenvironment of the gut wall, enabling study of specific roles of mucosal and luminal niches in the microbial community and assessment of localization of treatment effects and temporal onset following multiple daily doses.
• Colon-on-a-plate® CRO Services High-throughput in vitro colonic fermentation service using 10 mL reactors; compares tens of test products across multiple donors and conditions in a short-term simulation up to 48 hours, providing microbial community composition, SCFA production and host-microbiome readouts.
• Kinetic Colon-on-a-plate® CRO Services Time-resolved, high-throughput colonic simulation service that combines small-volume scalability with multi-timepoint insight, following microbial and metabolic changes at 6, 24 and 48 hours during 48-hour fermentation in a compact 10 mL single-dose setup; captures SCFAs, lactate, gas, pH and microbial composition.
• Short-term Colon CRO Services Small-volume colonic reactors for scalable GI in vitro data, ideally suited to screen test products for interaction with gut microbiota, with frequent samplings from the same reactor providing kinetic insights into colonic simulation and test product effects.
• Upper GI Tract Simulator CRO Services Dynamic model sequentially simulating stomach, duodenum, jejunum and ileum under fasted or fed conditions with INFOGEST 2.0 method parameters; applicable for assessing dissolution of capsules/tablets, release profiles, drug stability, probiotic survival, digestion kinetics, and bioaccessibility/bioavailability; can be coupled to colonic simulations for full-GI transit studies.
• Screening SHIME® CRO Services Mid-throughput, fully automated computer-controlled simulation of the whole gastrointestinal tract with multiple colonic vessels tested simultaneously over an 8-day repeated dosing period; typical nine-week turnaround from experiment start to reporting.
• DIAMOD® CRO Services Dynamic model recreating the physical interconnection of dissolution and permeation processes by reproducing the dynamic environment and physiology of stomach, duodenum and jejunum; designed to address poor water-solubility challenges of small molecule drug candidates, with ability to simulate achlorhydria or hypochlorhydria for patient-centric drug formulation.
• MetaKey® Metabolomics Standalone Services Multi-approach metabolomics service combining LA-REIMS (Laser-assisted rapid evaporative ionization MS) for high-throughput metabolic fingerprinting and UHPLC-high resolution mass spectrometry for untargeted and targeted metabolic profiling, including a Gut Metabolite Profiling panel covering 230 key metabolites; sold standalone for clinical samples (urine, blood, saliva, feces, tissues, cells) or bundled with in vitro simulators.
• Host-Microbiome Interaction Cell Assay Services In vitro cell assays coupled to ProDigest's gut simulations including inflammation-induced leaky gut models (Caco-2 cells with THP-1 or PBMCs), wound healing assays (T84 cells) and adhesion/invasion assays; used to study gut barrier permeability, pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, immunomodulation, tight junction gene expression and insulin resistance.
• SHIME® Instrument Platform (Academic Sales) Sale of the physical SHIME® instrument platform to academic and research institutions for non-commercial research, including equipment, intensive training on operation and adaptation, and continued scientific support; distinct from the company's CRO service offering, generating equipment/licensing revenue.
• Animal GI Model CRO Services (SPIME™ / SCIME™ / SFIME™) CRO services using ProDigest's SPIME™ (pig), SCIME™ (canine) and SFIME™ (feline) intestinal microbial ecosystem simulators for screening feed ingredients, bioactive compounds, formulation development and dosage; short-term setups available for other animal species.

Quantifiable outcome

• SHIME® has been validated in over 150 peer-reviewed publications demonstrating in vivo-in vitro correlation
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature11 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Sacco SystemcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2026Sacco System — holder of one of the world's most diverse microbial culture collections — partnered with ProDigest for a collaborative study exploring how specific probiotic strains support gut barrier function and modulate immune responses. The study used ProDigest's Caco-2/THP-1 inflammation-induced leaky gut model to assess barrier integrity and immunomodulation, enabling systematic screening of multiple strains under controlled, reproducible conditions. The collaboration revealed strain-specific effects and provided actionable insights for targeted probiotic solutions.
• FutureCeuticalscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 January 2026ProDigest partnered with FutureCeuticals to conduct research demonstrating the prebiotic benefits of FutureCeuticals' Organic NatureKnit® using ProDigest's validated M-SHIME model. The study, published in Frontiers in Nutrition, showed that just 2.5 grams of NatureKnit produced a more sustained prebiotic effect at 48 hours across gut bacteria abundance, species richness, and total short-chain fatty acids compared to purified fiber alternatives. This partnership generates peer-reviewed validation for FutureCeuticals' product claims.
• U.S. FDA (National Center for Toxicological Research)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's National Center for Toxicological Research awarded ProDigest a contract to provide a SHIME® technology platform for full gut simulation. This milestone highlights SHIME®'s value in regulatory research and the growing role of advanced in vitro tools in preclinical decision-making within government regulatory agencies.
• MarinovacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Marinova used ProDigest's SHIME® model to study fucoidan polysaccharides, confirming their fermentation and the production of immune-relevant metabolites. Results showed consistent fermentation patterns and immune-relevant metabolite production, evidence that strengthened Marinova's immune health positioning and global evidence package for its marine biotechnology products.
• Interreg 2 Seas / European Regional Development FundminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020The Site Drug project (subsidy contract 2S07-033), funded by Interreg 2 Seas programme 2014-2020 and the European Regional Development Fund (Start: 01/01/2020; End: 30/09/2022), aimed to develop innovative site-specific drug delivery systems for patients suffering from Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, ovarian cancer with peritoneal metastases, breast resection, and hearing loss. ProDigest contributed GI simulation expertise to this multi-partner collaborative drug delivery initiative.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Eurofins Scientific: Eurofins is a global testing services provider covering food, pharma, environmental, and clinical testing. Its CDMO and CRO services overlap with ProDigest's pharma testing and food analysis capabilities at much greater scale and broader geographic reach.
• Charles River Laboratories: Charles River Labs is one of the largest global preclinical CROs offering broader safety, discovery, and manufacturing services. They compete for the same pharma R&D budgets, though their portfolio extends well beyond ProDigest's GI specialization into general toxicology and manufacturing.
• WuXi AppTec: WuXi AppTec is a leading global CRO/CDMO with comprehensive preclinical and clinical capabilities. While broader than ProDigest, WuXi serves overlapping pharma and biotech customers with preclinical study budgets and could expand into specialized GI services.
• SGS: SGS is a global inspection, verification, testing, and certification company. Its life sciences and food testing services compete for pharma and food industry R&D budgets, though at much broader scope and scale than ProDigest's specialized GI focus.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific: Thermo Fisher Scientific, through its PPD clinical research services, is a global life sciences platform offering CRO services across discovery, preclinical, and clinical stages. They compete for the same enterprise pharma R&D budgets with a much broader service catalog.

Emerging players

• NIZO food research: NIZO is a Dutch contract research organization specializing in food, nutrition, and microbiome research with in vitro and clinical capabilities. They directly compete for food and feed industry R&D budgets with microbiome-focused offerings similar in scope to ProDigest's food/feed segment.
• BioIVT: BioIVT provides biospecimens, including gut microbiome samples, and supports pharma research with related services. While more specimen-focused, they overlap with ProDigest's biobank offerings and microbiome research customer base in pharma.

Direct peers

• TNO: TNO is a Dutch applied research organization that operates TIM-1 and TIM-2 dynamic in vitro gastrointestinal models. These models directly compete with SHIME® for GI simulation CRO work in food, pharma, and feed applications, making TNO the closest direct peer.
• Inotiv: Inotiv is a US-listed preclinical CRO providing contract research services in discovery, safety assessment, and analytical services for pharma and biotech. They compete for similar pharma R&D budgets and have invested in microbiome-related preclinical capabilities.

Regional players

• Mérieux NutriSciences: Mérieux NutriSciences is a global food testing and safety services provider with strong pharma-adjacent capabilities. Their food and nutrition testing services overlap with ProDigest's food and feed customer segments, particularly in regulatory testing and product validation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php?id=61565914491491
• Instagraminstagram.com/prodigest.bv

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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 ProDigest