ULab Equipment
ULab Equipment is a Glasgow-based SaaS platform that catalogs laboratory equipment, manages bookings, and tracks usage for academic and research institutions worldwide, built on an LAMP stack originating from the University of Strathclyde's SPIDER systems.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersGlasgow, United Kingdom
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What ULab Equipment does
ULab Equipment Ltd is a Glasgow-based SaaS company founded in 2012 that operates a web-based platform for cataloguing, booking, and managing laboratory equipment in academic and research environments. The platform is built on a mature LAMP stack leveraging the SPIDER and STS (SPIDER Template System) content-management and database frameworks developed over 18+ years at the University of Strathclyde, supplemented by OpenLayers and Google Maps for geographic search and an interactive laboratory floor-plan designer. Core functionality includes equipment booking calendars with conflict prevention and qualified-operator requirements, booking groups for sequential or simultaneous reservations, QR-coded equipment pages, maintenance scheduling, hazard and incident reporting, charging and invoicing with project codes, bulk import of offline usage data, and advanced reporting templates aligned with UK Research Council compliance requirements.
The company monetizes through a three-tier subscription model: a Free tier (up to 20 users, 1 lab, 2 bookable items), Pro at £250/month or £2,500 annually (up to 100 users, 10 labs, 100 items, with charging, advanced reporting, and facility pages), and Enterprise (unlimited scale, from £0.38/user/month, with SSO via Azure/Shibboleth/SLDAP, PURE and Agresso integrations, API access, onboarding, and dedicated support). Distribution is web-based and self-service for the Free tier, transitioning to direct enterprise sales for larger deployments. ULab was co-developed with the University of Strathclyde, which remains a primary institutional partner; the founder team (Blair Johnston, Tim Plumridge, Ian Thompson) remains in place with Simon Mone serving as CEO. The company is privately held, founder-owned, with no disclosed external funding, and operates with 1–10 employees from Glasgow, United Kingdom.
ULab Equipment firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ULab Equipment
- Legal name
- ULab Limited
- Website
- https://ulabequipment.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- ULab Equipment is a Glasgow-based SaaS platform that catalogs laboratory equipment, manages bookings, and tracks usage for academic and research institutions worldwide, built on an LAMP stack originating from the University of Strathclyde's SPIDER systems.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where ULab Equipment is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Glasgow
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
ULab Equipment business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Subscription Licensing (Tiered SaaS): Three-tier subscription model: Free (up to 20 users, 1 lab, 2 items), Pro (£250/month or £2,500/year, up to 100 users, 10 labs, 100 items), and Enterprise (unlimited, from £0.38/user/month). Add-ons available for extra users, labs, and bookable items. Annual payment discounts available.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier for small scale lab management with essential features |
| Subscription | Monthly | Professional tier for increased lab management capabilities |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Enterprise tier with unlimited scale and full feature access |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels5 records
ULab Equipment product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ULab is a cloud-based web platform that catalogues laboratory equipment and provides customisable booking, scheduling, and reporting tools for research institutions. It supports visual lab floorplan design, equipment groups, qualified operator management, and integration with finance and identity systems. The platform serves universities, research centres, and companies with three subscription tiers (Free, Pro, Enterprise) and includes a global searchable equipment directory.
Product overview
ULab Equipment offers a cloud-based laboratory and equipment management platform with three subscription tiers (Free, Pro, Enterprise) that enables institutions to catalogue equipment on customizable floor plans, manage booking calendars, and track usage. The platform is built on LAMP stack technology and integrates with Google Maps and OpenLayers for mapping features. Core capabilities include equipment booking systems, laboratory floorplan design tools, incident management, maintenance scheduling, service order imports, and advanced reporting. The tiered structure provides scalability from small labs (Free: up to 20 users, 1 lab, 2 items) to enterprise deployments (unlimited capacity, SSO integrations, API access, third-party ERP integrations with PURE and Agresso).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- ULab Free
- ULab Pro
- ULab Enterprise
Quantifiable outcome
- Expensive equipment is utilised in the best manner possible through improved capacity planning
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use ULab Equipment
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
ULab Equipment technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration7 records
Feature8 records
ULab Equipment partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Microsoft AzurecoreMulti-tenant Single Sign-On (SSO) integration via Microsoft Azure, allowing users to login using company or institutional email addresses with optional multi-factor authentication. Users can consent to ULab reading their Azure profile to obtain basic account details.
- University of StrathclydecoreOriginal development partner and foundation of ULab technology. Built on SPIDER and STS systems developed at Strathclyde over 18+ years. The University provides ongoing institutional use case and development input.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
ULab Equipment competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Clustermarket: Clustermarket is a SaaS platform specifically for booking and managing shared lab equipment across academic and commercial research organisations. It is the most directly comparable peer given ULab's equipment booking, calendar, and qualified-operator features.
- LabArchives: LabArchives provides an electronic lab notebook and lab management platform widely used in academic and research institutions. It overlaps with ULab on institutional research software procurement, compliance reporting, and integration with university identity systems.
- Quartzy: Quartzy is a lab management SaaS offering inventory, ordering, and equipment booking for research labs. It targets the same primary segment — researchers and lab managers — with a similar freemium-to-paid SaaS motion.
- Labguru: Labguru (BioData) is a lab management and ELN platform used by academic and industry research teams. It competes for the same lab manager and research institute procurement budgets as ULab.
- eLabJournal: eLabJournal is an ELN and lab management platform from Bio-ITech with strong penetration in European academic research institutes. It directly overlaps with ULab on lab digitisation, booking, and institutional integration requirements.
- SciNote: SciNote is an open-source-friendly ELN and lab management platform used by academic and industry labs. It competes for the same research institution procurement deals, particularly those prioritising compliance and sample tracking.
Broad incumbents
- Benchling: Benchling is a well-funded, broad life sciences R&D cloud platform spanning ELN, LIMS, registry, and lab operations. It is a larger incumbent that increasingly overlaps with ULab's lab operations category while serving a much wider customer base.
- Dotmatics: Dotmatics is a scientific R&D platform covering ELN, LIMS, and data analytics for life sciences. It is an established incumbent competing for institutional research software budgets that ULab also targets.
- LabVantage Solutions: LabVantage is an established LIMS vendor serving pharmaceutical, biotech, and research organisations. It represents the traditional incumbent approach to lab informatics that ULab's lighter SaaS offering contrasts against.
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (SampleManager LIMS): Thermo Fisher's SampleManager LIMS and broader lab informatics portfolio address enterprise lab data management. It is a broad incumbent in the lab software category, though typically targeting larger pharmaceutical and industrial customers than ULab's academic/research institute focus.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
ULab Equipment social profiles
Digital presenceULab Equipment compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
ULab Equipment financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ULab Equipment leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
ULab Equipment funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ULab Equipment 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 ULab Equipment
What does ULab Equipment do?
ULab is a cloud-based web platform that catalogues laboratory equipment and provides customisable booking, scheduling, and reporting tools for research institutions. It supports visual lab floorplan design, equipment groups, qualified operator management, and integration with finance and identity systems. The platform serves universities, research centres, and companies with three subscription tiers (Free, Pro, Enterprise) and includes a global searchable equipment directory.
Is ULab Equipment a public or private company?
ULab Equipment is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was ULab Equipment founded?
ULab Equipment was founded in 2012. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is ULab Equipment based?
ULab Equipment is headquartered in Glasgow, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does ULab Equipment make money?
One revenue line is on record: subscription Licensing (Tiered SaaS).
Who are ULab Equipment's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Clustermarket, LabArchives, Quartzy, Labguru, eLabJournal and SciNote. Broad incumbents are Benchling, Dotmatics, LabVantage Solutions and Thermo Fisher Scientific (SampleManager LIMS).
Does ULab Equipment have an API?
Yes. API access for Enterprise tier users to import and export critical data. Available exclusively on the Enterprise plan as part of on-boarding services.