OlexSys

What OlexSys does

OlexSys is a privately-held scientific software company that was spun out of Durham University's Chemistry Department in 2010. The company develops and commercializes two distinct product lines serving different buyer personas within the laboratory sciences market. The flagship product, Olex2, is described as the world's most popular crystallographic software package for small-molecule X-ray crystallography, providing structure solution, refinement, visualization, and analysis through a Python-scriptable GUI that integrates with the leading crystallographic and quantum chemistry tools in the ecosystem, including ShelX, CrysAlisPro (Rigaku), Superflip, CheckCIF, and ORCA. A portfolio of extension modules — ReportPlus (publication-quality reports), DrawPlus (structural drawing), 3DRendering/3DPlus (3D printer export), and NoSpherA2 (non-spherical atom modeling and Hirshfeld Atom Refinement) — is monetized via personal and site licenses following a 3-month trial period.

The company's second product line, LabSafe, is a comprehensive laboratory chemicals safety and management platform with five integrated modules covering chemicals inventory, safety management with GHS parsing and incompatibility detection, lab operations, user and asset management, and compliance reporting. LabSafe was originally developed for the Chemistry Department at Durham University and is now sold as a subscription platform to academic and industrial laboratories needing COSHH compliance, chemical lifecycle tracking, barcode-based inventory, and audit-ready reporting. The company is small (~14 employees), operates from Durham (UK) and Regensburg (Germany — OlexSys GmbH), and has remained intentionally independent and research-focused since founding.

Revenue is generated from three streams: (1) software licensing for Olex2 extension modules and LabSafe subscriptions, (2) structured training services including online group workshops (e.g., GBP25 per participant per hour), one-to-one expert consultations (GBP80/hour), and on-site workshops, and (3) direct sales of licenses via the website after trial periods. Go-to-market is primarily product-led with sales-assist for LabSafe enterprise deployments, supported by marketing through documentation, conference workshops at venues like IUCr and ORNL, and academic community channels.

Name

OlexSys

Legal name

OlexSys Ltd

Website

https://olexsys.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

OlexSys develops Olex2, the world's most popular crystallographic software for small-molecule X-ray crystallography, and LabSafe, a laboratory chemicals safety and compliance management platform, serving crystallographers and academic and industrial laboratories primarily in the UK, Germany, and globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Scientific Crystallography Software

NAICS

Other Specialized Design Services (54149), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHLAGAKAL

Quality Engineering & Risk Management (ICH Q9/Q10, validation, change control)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Life Science Tools & Services (CRO/CDMO/Lab Services)/Regulatory Affairs, Quality & Compliance Services (GxP)

SECONDARYEDAEAIAC

Science & STEM Lab Equipment & Supplies (Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Makerspaces)

Education/Education Facilities & Support Services/Education Supplies, Equipment & Furniture Procurement

SECONDARYEDAGAKAF

Learning Experience Design (LXD) & UX for Learning

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Instructional Design & Content Development Services

Keywords

• Crystallographic software
• Small-molecule crystallography
• Laboratory chemicals management
• X-ray structure refinement
• Chemical inventory tracking

Headquarters

HQ city

Hartlepool

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Software Licenses: Personal and site licenses for Olex2 extension modules offered after a 3-month trial period. The company offers both individual and institutional licensing options.
2. LabSafe Platform Licensing: LabSafe is offered as a comprehensive laboratory management platform to academic institutions and industrial laboratories, likely through annual licensing agreements.
3. Training Workshops: Revenue generated from various workshop formats including personalized online group workshops, one-to-one consultations (GBP80/hour), and in-person site workshops. Small group workshops priced at GBP25 per person per hour.
4. Extension Module Licenses: ReportPlus, DrawPlus, and 3DRendering modules available for purchase after trial period, sold as personal or site licenses.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

OlexSys develops, licenses, and supports two scientific software products: Olex2, a crystallographic GUI for small-molecule X-ray crystallography covering structure solution, refinement, visualization, and analysis (with extension modules NoSpherA2, ReportPlus, DrawPlus, and 3DPlus); and LabSafe, an integrated laboratory chemicals and safety management platform for academic institutions and industrial labs covering inventory, safety documentation, storage compliance, purchasing, training, and emergency response. The company also sells accompanying paid training workshops and consulting services for both products.

Product overview

OlexSys is a scientific software company offering two distinct product lines: Olex2, the world's most popular crystallographic software for small-molecule X-ray crystallography, and LabSafe, a comprehensive laboratory chemicals safety management system. Olex2 is a modular platform supporting structure solution, refinement, and visualization through a core application with optional extension modules including ReportPlus for custom reports, DrawPlus for publication-quality drawings, 3DRendering/3DPlus for 3D printing exports, and NoSpherA2 for non-spherical atom modelling and quantum crystallography. LabSafe operates as an integrated platform with five interconnected modules: Chemicals Management for inventory and lifecycle tracking, Safety Management for hazard analysis and emergency response, Lab Management for protocols and training, User & Asset Management for access control and finances, and Compliance & Reporting for regulatory adherence. Both products are available through licensing with trial periods and offer training services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Olex2: The world's most popular crystallographic package for small-molecule crystallography. Simply the world's most popular crystallographic software for small-molecule work.
• LabSafe

Products and services

• Olex2 Crystallographic software package for small-molecule X-ray crystallography, providing structure solution, refinement, visualization, and analysis tools for academic, government, and industrial crystallographers.
• LabSafe All-in-one laboratory chemicals, safety, and chemical management platform for academic institutions and industrial laboratories, covering chemical inventory, safety documentation, storage compliance, purchasing, training, and emergency response.
• NoSpherA2 Olex2 extension for non-spherical atom modeling enabling Hirshfeld Atom Refinement (HAR), wavefunction calculations, molecular orbitals, and quantum crystallography through integration with ORCA quantum chemistry software.
• ReportPlus Olex2 extension module for generating highly customizable, high-quality structure reports for single or multiple structures, useful for combining data from multiple structures for publication.
• DrawPlus Olex2 extension module providing quick drawing styles for producing sophisticated structural drawings and packing diagrams, including hydrogen bonding networks and pi-pi bonded systems.
• 3DPlus Olex2 extension module for exporting crystal structures in 3D printer formats including STL, PLY, VRML, POVRAY, and TEX/PGF rendering, enabling additive manufacturing of molecular models.
• Olex2 Training Services Paid training services for Olex2 including personalized online group workshops (4-12 participants, GBP25 per person per hour), one-to-one online consultations (GBP80/hour), general workshops, and in-person workshops at client sites.

Quantifiable outcome

• 3-month trial period enables users to evaluate extension modules before purchase commitment
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability3 records

Feature12 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core, moderate and minor.

• Durham UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010OlexSys was founded as a spin-out company from Durham University in 2010. The company maintains strong links with the academic institution, particularly the Chemistry Department where LabSafe was initially developed and Olex2 originated.
• International Union of Crystallography (IUCr)moderateChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOlexSys conducts Olex2 workshops at IUCr events, serving as a distribution and training channel for the software within the international crystallography community.
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOlexSys has conducted mini-workshops at ORNL, providing training and support for Olex2 users at the national laboratory.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• BIOVIA (Dassault Systèmes): BIOVIA provides a broad portfolio of scientific informatics software including chemistry and laboratory data management, serving large enterprise R&D customers that overlap with LabSafe's industrial laboratory target segment.
• Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC): CCDC operates the Cambridge Structural Database and provides crystallographic tools (Mercury, Mogul, enCIFer) for the worldwide structural chemistry community, serving the same crystallographer audience with a broader portfolio of data and software than Olex2.

Others

• ChemAxon: ChemAxon provides cheminformatics toolkits and platforms widely used in pharmaceutical and academic chemistry; it is an adjacent software peer serving the same chemistry research customers that buy Olex2 and could buy LabSafe.

Emerging players

• Dotmatics: Dotmatics offers scientific informatics including ELN, LIMS and chemistry data management for research labs, competing with LabSafe for the institutional laboratory information management opportunity in chemistry research settings.
• Gaussian Inc. Gaussian provides quantum chemistry software whose wavefunction output is used in the same quantum crystallography workflows that NoSpherA2 enables via ORCA integration, making it a peer in the quantum crystallography tooling stack.
• LabVantage Solutions: LabVantage is a dedicated LIMS platform serving regulated and academic laboratories; it competes with LabSafe for the chemicals, safety and compliance management use case at research institutions and industrial labs.

Direct peers

• PLATON / Ton Spek tools: PLATON is a widely used free academic crystallographic toolset for structure validation and geometry analysis, directly overlapping with validation and analysis features within Olex2's refinement and visualization environment.
• SHELX (Sheldrick tools): SHELX/ShelXL is the long-standing gold standard for small-molecule structure solution and refinement in academic crystallography; Olex2 explicitly supports ShelX commands and workflows, making it the closest direct functional competitor and integration partner.
• Rigaku (CrysAlisPro): Rigaku's CrysAlisPro is a crystallographic data processing and structure solution suite bundled with Rigaku X-ray instruments; Olex2 already documents an integration with CrysAlisPro, indicating overlapping user base and complementary workflow positioning in small-molecule crystallography.
• Bruker AXS (APEX suite): Bruker's APEX software is a widely used small-molecule crystallography package shipped with Bruker X-ray diffraction instruments, directly competing with Olex2 for the same crystallographer workflows and offering similar structure solution, refinement and visualization capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/olexsys-limited

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Subsidiaries1 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 OlexSys