Milu Labs

What Milu Labs does

Milu Labs is a privately held diagnostics developer focused on women's health, founded in 2018-2019 and headquartered in New York with operational offices in Hangzhou (Biopharma Town) and Singapore. The company targets the Asian market, addressing maternal-fetal conditions such as preterm birth, preeclampsia, and placenta accreta through two diagnostic platforms developed alongside academic collaborators. Its Exosome Diagnostic Platform, built with Harvard Medical School's Dr. Thomas McElrath and licensed regionally via a 2019 collaboration with NX Prenatal Inc., performs liquid-biopsy analysis of exosomes in body fluids to generate a "bio-fingerprint" predictive of pregnancy risk as early as 10-12 weeks of gestation. The Multiomics Diagnostic Platform, co-developed with Johns Hopkins Medical School's Dr. Daniel Chan and Dr. Zhen Zhang, integrates proteomic, transcriptomic, epigenomic, and microbiomic data analyzed by AI to produce a single clinical test result intended for early cancer detection and other conditions.

The company is structured around two principal in-licensed and co-developed diagnostic assets, neither of which is described as commercially launched in the available data. Milu Labs' revenue mechanics are anchored in diagnostic testing services to healthcare providers and patients in Asia, supplemented by clinical-research partnerships rather than disclosed per-test pricing. Go-to-market is described as enterprise field sales executed through partnerships with global academic institutions and healthcare companies, with a 2019 MOU with Thermo Fisher Scientific providing LC-MS instrumentation support for clinical mass spectrometry-based proteomics assays. The customer segment is narrowly verticalized in Women's Health / Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

Milu Labs is at a pre-commercial, R&D-pipeline stage. Capital structure is modest: a March 2019 seed round led by South Korea's Magna Investment with participation from Turret Capital, plus a corporate-funded collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific in October 2019; both rounds carry undisclosed amounts in the source data. Leadership comprises co-founder/Executive Chairman Daniel Chai (Managing Partner of Turret Capital Management), President & CEO Wilson Zhang (formerly Lead of Strategy at Zhejiang Dian Diagnostics), and co-founder/CFO/CSO Matthew G. Badalucco (formerly Director of Investment Strategy at Catcha Group), alongside a Scientific Advisory Board drawn from Harvard and Johns Hopkins Medical Schools.

Name

Milu Labs

Legal name

Milu Labs

Website

https://milulabs.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Milu Labs is a private, pre-commercial diagnostic developer that builds exosome and multiomics AI platforms for early pregnancy risk (notably preterm birth) and cancer detection, targeting the Asian market through academic and corporate partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Women's Health Diagnostics

NAICS

Medical Laboratories (621511), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), In-Vitro Diagnostic Substance Manufacturing (325413)

SIC

In Vitro & In Vivo Diagnostic Substances (2835), Services-Medical Laboratories (8071), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Genetic & Prenatal Testing Laboratories (HLAFAMAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Molecular Diagnostics & Genomics Laboratories (HLAFAMAE), Proteomics & Biomarker Analytical Testing (HLAGADAG), Genetic, Cytogenetic & Prenatal Screening IVD (HLAHAAAI), Genetic & Genomic Testing (germline, somatic, carrier, pharmacogenomics) (HLAAALAD)

Keywords

• Women's health diagnostics
• Exosome liquid biopsy
• Preterm birth testing
• Multiomics cancer detection
• Maternal-fetal diagnostics

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Diagnostic Testing Services: Commercialization of diagnostic tests for preterm birth assessment and women's health conditions through clinical laboratory services targeting healthcare providers and patients in Asia.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Milu Labs develops and commercializes advanced diagnostic tests for women's health, anchored by two proprietary platforms: an exosome-based liquid biopsy platform that generates a predictive "bio-fingerprint" of patient health risk from body-fluid exosomes, and a multiomics platform that integrates proteomic, transcriptomic, epigenomic, and microbiome data analyzed by AI. Its flagship commercial product is the Preterm Birth Test, a noninvasive blood-based risk assessment usable as early as 10-12 weeks of pregnancy, with pipeline applications in preeclampsia, placenta accreta, and early cancer detection.

Product overview

Milu Labs operates as a diagnostics company developing two cutting-edge diagnostic platforms — the Exosome Diagnostic Platform and the Multiomics Diagnostic Platform — designed to detect health conditions affecting women, including preterm birth, preeclampsia, and cancer. The Exosome Platform, built with Harvard Medical School's Dr. Thomas McElrath and leveraging NX Prenatal's NeXosome technology, provides a noninvasive liquid biopsy using body-fluid exosomes to generate predictive bio-fingerprints. The Multiomics Platform, developed with Johns Hopkins Medicine's Dr. Daniel Chan and Dr. Zhen Zhang, integrates proteomic, genomic, epigenomic, and microbiomic data analyzed by AI into a single clinical test result for early disease detection. The flagship Preterm Birth Test operationalizes the Exosome Platform as a blood-based risk stratification tool usable in the first trimester (10-12 weeks).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Exosome Diagnostic Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• Blood test for preterm birth risk stratification as early as 10-12 weeks of pregnancy

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Thermo Fisher ScientificcoreTechnology or Integration · 23 October 2019Collaboration MOU to advance women's health products in the Asia market using Thermo Fisher's liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) instrumentation. The partnership supports development of clinical mass spectrometry-based proteomics assays combining NX Prenatal's NeXosome platform with Thermo Fisher's analytical technology for the Chinese reproductive health segment.
• NX Prenatal Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 January 2019Strategic collaboration to commercialize NX Prenatal's NeXosome liquid biopsy platform for exosome-based preterm birth risk testing in the Asian market. NX Prenatal's proprietary technology enables blood testing as early as 10-12 weeks to stratify women at risk for preterm birth. Terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.
• Harvard Medical School (Dr. Thomas McElrath)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Dr. Thomas McElrath of Harvard Medical School to develop the exosome diagnostic platform for detecting women's health conditions including PreTerm Birth, Preeclampsia, and Placenta Accreta.
• Johns Hopkins Medical School (Dr. Daniel Chan, Dr. Zhen Zhang)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Dr. Daniel W. Chan and Dr. Zhen Zhang of Johns Hopkins Medical School to construct a multiomics-based toolkit for early cancer detection using the Multiomics/AI approach.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Roche Diagnostics: Major IVD and molecular diagnostics player with prenatal and oncology portfolios, plus Foundation Medicine acquisition for multi-cancer early detection. Directly relevant because Milu Labs is competing across both prenatal and cancer-detection diagnostics categories where Roche is an entrenched incumbent.
• Hologic, Inc. Large women's health diagnostics company (e.g., thin-prep cytology, prenatal screening products). Comparable as a broad incumbent in women's health diagnostics that Milu Labs would compete against for hospital and lab contracts.
• Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp): Large US clinical laboratory services network offering NIPT through its women's health portfolio. Comparable as an established clinical lab services competitor in the molecular prenatal/maternal-fetal diagnostics category Milu Labs targets.

Emerging players

• Guardant Health, Inc. Liquid biopsy and multiomics-based oncology detection company (G360, Shield). Comparable to Milu Labs' Multiomics Diagnostic Platform that uses AI across proteome/transcriptome/epigenome/microbiome for early detection — both rely on blood-based multi-analyte assays analyzed computationally.
• NeoGenomics, Inc. Oncology-focused molecular diagnostics laboratory with growing liquid biopsy and multi-cancer detection capabilities. Comparable to Milu Labs' multiomics/AI cancer detection platform on clinical lab model and oncology customer base.

Others

• Bio-Techne Corporation: Reagents, proteomics tools, and diagnostics company. Comparable as a supplier to the proteomics workflow (analogous to Thermo Fisher's role supporting Milu Labs' LC-MS pipeline); also a developing diagnostics player through its ExoDx prostate test.
• Ariosa Diagnostics (acquired by Roche): Pre-acquisition developer of the Harmony prenatal test (cell-free DNA NIPT), now part of Roche. Comparable to Milu Labs because the same management team at Milu Labs led Ariosa's China entry, and the products target the same NIPT clinical question.

Regional players

• BGI Genomics Co., Ltd. China-headquartered genomics and NIPT provider with deep Asia footprint and government relationships. Comparable because Milu Labs is targeting Asian reproductive health through similar genomics-based screening, but BGI is the dominant incumbent BGI is competing against locally.

Direct peers

• Natera, Inc. Public molecular diagnostics company with a leading non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) franchise (e.g., Panorama) and women's health reproductive testing business. Directly comparable in targeting the same OB-GYN/maternal-fetal medicine customer with cell-free DNA/biology-based blood tests.
• NX Prenatal Inc. Owner of the NeXosome exosome-based liquid biopsy platform for preterm birth/preeclampsia. Direct technology licensor and the most comparable peer because Milu Labs' flagship Exosome Platform is the Asia-licensed commercialization of the same core technology.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/milu-labs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 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 Milu Labs