Ran Biotechnologies

What Ran Biotechnologies does

RAN Biotechnologies, founded in 2012 by fluorine chemist Dr. Roger Nassar and headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts, is a privately held, bootstrapped specialty chemicals and microfluidics tools vendor. The company develops smart nanomaterials and miniaturized devices—centered on fluorosurfactants (including 008-FluoroSurfactant and PFAS-free alternatives), fluorinated oils (proprietary FO Series plus third-party HFE7500/FC40), functionalized gel beads for single-cell barcoding, PDMS microfluidic chips, and surface coatings—sold primarily to academic and industrial researchers in droplet microfluidics, next-generation sequencing, and single-cell analysis. Beyond consumables, RAN sells instruments including theBOX QuadPump Flow Control System and the recently launched OrchestRANum single-cell RNA sequencing platform, and offers custom/contract manufacturing services for surfactants, beads, and chip fabrication.

The company monetizes through direct, quote-based product sales via its website, phone, and email, with sample-tier pricing (100 mg minimum) feeding into larger orders and repeat purchases; custom formulations and foundry services provide a secondary professional-services revenue stream. Customers span four verticals: academic research, pharma/biotech industry, energy (cooling tower microbial monitoring), and environmental research. Its patented Rapid Microbe Detection (RMD) line addresses field and industrial microbial monitoring, with magnetic variants and a ViewerDevice under development.

With fewer than ten employees and no disclosed external funding, RAN operates as a founder-controlled, lean specialist whose products are cited in hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and were used in NSF-funded experiments aboard the International Space Station in 2023. Recent strategic emphasis has been on PFAS-free chemistries (regulatory positioning as 3M exits fluorinated fluids), instrument and chip-foundry expansion, and platform consolidation across the droplet microfluidics workflow.

Name

Ran Biotechnologies

Legal name

RAN Biotechnologies, Inc.

Website

https://ranbiotechnologies.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Ran Biotechnologies

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Microfluidics Reagents and Instruments

NAICS

Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing (334516), Surface Active Agent Manufacturing (325613), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826), Industrial Organic Chemicals (2860), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Laboratory Consumables & Plasticware (Tips, Tubes, Plates, Filters) (HLAGAIAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Molecular Biology & Genomics Instruments (PCR/qPCR, Sequencing, Microarrays) (HLAGAIAF), Microbiology & Sterility Assurance (Bioburden/Endotoxin/Sterility) (HLAGADAE), Biosensors & Lab-on-Chip (BioMEMS) (HDAHALAK)

Keywords

• Droplet microfluidics reagents
• Fluorinated surfactants
• Microfluidic chips
• Single-cell sequencing
• Microbe detection systems

Headquarters

HQ city

Beverly

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Product Sales: Direct product sales of specialty chemicals, consumables, and instruments for microfluidics and microbe detection research. Includes fluorosurfactants, gel beads, fluorinated oils, microfluidic chips, RMD detection materials, theBOX flow control system, and OrchestRANum single-cell analysis system. Revenue generated through one-time purchases and repeat orders.
2. Custom/Contract Manufacturing: Custom material development and fabrication services including custom surfactant formulations, custom bead specifications, and microfluidic chip fabrication foundry services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Ran Biotechnologies manufactures and sells specialty chemicals, fluorosurfactants, gel beads, microfluidic chips, and instruments for droplet microfluidics, single-cell sequencing, and rapid microbe detection. The offering spans proprietary PFAS and PFAS-free surfactants, fluorinated oils, fluoro-coatings, microbe detection kits, microfluidic consumables, and flow-control instruments (theBOX, OrchestRANum), plus a custom Microfluidic Chip Fabrication Foundry service. Customers include academic institutions, pharmaceutical/biotech industry, energy companies, and environmental research organizations.

Product overview

RAN Biotechnologies offers a comprehensive portfolio of nanomaterials and miniaturized devices for droplet microfluidics, single-cell analysis, and microbe detection. The product ecosystem centers on fluorosurfactants (008-FluoroSurfactant) and PFAS-free alternatives, paired with fluorinated and alternative oils (FO series, HFE7500, FC40), aqueous recovery oils, and surface coating reagents (909-FluoroCoat, 201-NFC). Supporting hardware includes the OrchestRANum™ System (single-cell RNA-seq platform), theBOX QuadPump Flow Control System, and microfluidic chips/SU8 wafers. Consumables span gel beads for barcoding (RANscBead-X1, X2, HyDrop, InDrop, CustomSeqReady, UniversalBeads) and the NoChipDrop Kit for chip-free emulsification. The Rapid Microbe Detection (RMD) line provides affinity-based capture and detection solutions for environmental, energy, and industrial applications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Rapid Microbe Detection (RMD): Patented microbe capture and detection system using smart affinity chromatography nanomaterial for rapid isolation and measurement of microbes in field and lab settings.
• RMD
• OrchestRANum™
• 008-FluoroSurfactant
• BARD™ (BARcodes in Droplets)
• RANscBead-X1
• RANscBead-X2
• CustomSeqReady™
• UniversalBeads™
• theBOX™
• NoChipDrop™
• FO Series Oils
• FO-101
• FluoroCoat

Products and services

• 008-FluoroSurfactant Industry-standard fluorosurfactant used to stabilize aqueous droplets in fluorinated oil for droplet microfluidics and single-cell sequencing workflows, sold to academic and industry researchers.
• 71J-NFS PFAS-Free Surfactants PFAS-free fluorosurfactant designed as a drop-in alternative to PFAS-containing surfactants for droplet microfluidics applications, for researchers seeking PFAS-free chemistries.
• FO Series Fluorinated Oils (HFE7500, FC40) Fluorinated carrier oils (HFE7500, FC40) used as the continuous phase for generating and stabilizing aqueous droplets in microfluidic systems, for droplet-microfluidics researchers.
• Aqueous Recovery Oils Specialty oils designed to enable recovery of the aqueous phase from droplet emulsions in microfluidic workflows, for droplet-microfluidics researchers.
• 909-FluoroCoat Fluorophilic coating applied to microfluidic chips to control surface wetting in droplet microfluidics, for researchers building droplet-based assays.
• 201-NFC PFAS-Free Coating PFAS-free surface coating for microfluidic chips, providing a non-fluorinated alternative to 909-FluoroCoat for droplet-microfluidics research.
• Gel Beads (premade, clear, colored) Hydrogel beads supplied in premade, clear, and colored variants for single-cell sequencing and droplet microfluidics, including UniversalBeads technology, for genomics and single-cell analysis researchers.
• NoChipDrop Kit Kit that enables droplet microfluidics experiments without requiring custom-fabricated chips, for researchers seeking a rapid entry into droplet-based workflows.
• Rapid Microbe Detection (RMD) Products Detection kits and reagents for rapid identification of microbes, used by academic, pharmaceutical/biotech, energy, and environmental research organizations.
• Microfluidic Chips & SU8 Wafers Standard and custom microfluidic chips and SU8 master wafers for droplet microfluidics research and product development, for academic and industrial researchers.
• Microfluidic Chip Fabrication Foundry Custom fabrication service for microfluidic chips and wafers, enabling customers to outsource chip manufacturing for research and product development.
• theBOX QuadPump Flow Control System Instrument providing four-channel flow control for driving reagents in microfluidic and droplet-microfluidics experiments, for laboratory researchers.
• OrchestRANum System Automated instrument system for orchestrating microfluidic workflows, including control software, for laboratory researchers running droplet-based assays.

Quantifiable outcome

• 60-100% encapsulation efficiency (cell-to-bead ratio) depending on cell size
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 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

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• NSF-funded investigations / International Space Station researchminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023RAN Biotechnologies' proprietary functionalized surfactants were sent to the International Space Station on SpaceX's 25th CRS mission (early 2023) as part of NSF-funded investigations applying microfluidics to answer scientific questions and improve vaccine/pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• bioMérieux: bioMérieux provides rapid microbial detection and diagnostic systems in clinical, industrial, and environmental markets, comparable to RAN's RMD platform for cooling tower and environmental monitoring applications.
• 1CellBio: 1CellBio (now part of BioSkryb) provides single-cell analysis tools and consumables with a narrower specialty focus, comparable to RAN's targeted single-cell orchestration platform.

Direct peers

• Bio-Rad Laboratories: Bio-Rad's Droplet Digital PCR (ddSEQ/QX200) and related reagents directly compete with RAN's BARD barcoding and droplet microfluidics products. Both serve single-cell and genomics customers with droplet-based consumables and instruments.
• 10x Genomics: 10x Genomics is the dominant single-cell RNA-seq platform (Chromium) and competes head-to-head with RAN's OrchestRANum and BARD barcoding bead technology in academic and pharma research labs.
• Sphere Fluidics: Sphere Fluidics develops Pico-Surf surfactants, gel beads, and microfluidic instruments for single-cell analysis and droplet microfluidics, directly overlapping RAN's fluorosurfactant and gel bead product lines.
• Dolomite Bio (Blacktrace): Dolomite Bio supplies microfluidic chips, instruments (e.g., Nadia), and reagents for single-cell research, overlapping with RAN's microfluidic chip fabrication and OrchestRANum offerings.
• Fluigent: Fluigent specializes in microfluidic flow control systems and instruments, directly comparable to RAN's theBOX QuadPump Flow Control System for precision droplet generation workflows.

Broad incumbents

• Thermo Fisher Scientific: Thermo Fisher offers analytical instruments, reagents, and life-sciences consumables that overlap with RAN's product portfolio in chromatography, microbe detection, and laboratory reagents.
• Bio-Techne: Bio-Techne's ProteinSimple and R&D Systems brands provide reagents, kits, and consumables for life-sciences research that overlap with RAN's gel bead and molecular biology reagents.
• MilliporeSigma (Sigma-Aldrich): MilliporeSigma supplies a vast catalog of laboratory chemicals, surfactants, and consumables used in droplet microfluidics, providing broad-based alternatives to RAN's fluorosurfactants and specialty oils.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Ran Biotechnologies