Histone

What Histone does

Histone is a French medical biology laboratory services entity headquartered in Rognac, France, operating as part of Groupe Softway Medical — a privately held French healthcare IT company with over 30 years of experience serving medical biology laboratory groups. The company provides remote maintenance, hosting, and training services for healthcare IT systems, while the broader Softway Medical group offers a comprehensive healthcare IT portfolio including Midisya (middleware for microbiology workflow automation), Lamweb (SIL — Laboratory Information System), and Hopital Manager (DPI — Electronic Patient Record for hospitals). The technology stack spans DPI, SIL, RIS, PACS, MNIS, Middleware, and ERP, with AI and data hosting positioned as emerging capability areas.

The company serves five primary vertical segments: medical biology laboratories (the core segment), city/proximity medicine, medical imaging/radiology (with 1,000+ radiology service customers), nuclear medicine (180+ service customers), and health establishments/hospitals. Histone/Softway Medical claims to be the only French player offering a complete DPI spanning from city medicine to hospital, providing end-to-end coverage of the patient journey. The go-to-market is direct enterprise sales to French healthcare institutions, with a quote-based pricing model for enterprise software deployments. Recent notable wins include the unified DPI deployment at CHU Besançon Franche-Comté, where the entire medication circuit was migrated in a single day using Hopital Manager.

The business model relies on direct enterprise sales to French healthcare establishments with long-term software, hosting, and maintenance contracts. Revenue mechanics are not publicly disclosed, consistent with a privately held entity. The company is MDR-certified and emphasizes regulatory compliance as a core differentiator. Operating geographies are limited to France, and the company maintains active recruitment, client testimonial marketing, and a content-driven mediaroom as its primary commercial channels.

Name

Histone

Legal name

Groupe Softway Medical

Website

https://histone.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Histone is a French healthcare IT services entity within Groupe Softway Medical, providing remote maintenance, hosting, and training for medical biology laboratory software systems. It serves French hospitals, radiology centers, nuclear medicine services, and medical biology laboratories with a full-suite healthcare IT portfolio.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare IT Services

NAICS

Medical Laboratories (621511)

SIC

Services-Medical Laboratories (8071)

akta.pro primary industry

Anatomic Pathology (Histopathology & Cytopathology) (HLAFAMAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Cytology & Histopathology Diagnostics (IHC, ISH, tissue-based assays) (HLAAALAI)

Keywords

• Medical biology laboratory
• Health data hosting
• Remote system maintenance
• Laboratory training services
• Healthcare IT services

Headquarters

HQ city

Rognac

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Histone is a France-based medical biology laboratory that provides remote maintenance, hosting, and training services for healthcare IT systems. The company supports medical biology laboratory operations with managed services including health data hosting infrastructure and user training programs, leveraging expertise drawn from the broader French healthcare IT ecosystem.

Product overview

Groupe Softway Medical offers a comprehensive product portfolio for medical biology laboratories consisting of Midisya (middleware for microbiology workflow management) and Lamweb (full laboratory information system for complete lab management). These products work together to provide end-to-end laboratory operations support including result automation, regulatory compliance, and administrative efficiency.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Midisya: Middleware solution that manages the entire microbiology technical platform, allowing simplification and automation of result entry and validation, homogenization and tracing of processes, and activity management.
• Lamweb
• Hopital Manager

Products and services

• Remote Maintenance Services

Quantifiable outcome

• CHU Besançon migrated entire medication circuit in one day using Hopital Manager

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Medicover: Medicover operates a network of clinical laboratories and healthcare services across Central and Eastern Europe with French-adjacent European operations. Comparable as a European regional medical lab operator facing similar cross-border digital and regulatory dynamics.
• Synlab: Synlab is Europe's largest medical diagnostics services provider, with significant French operations via Synlab France. Comparable as a European medical lab operator that interacts with the same French regulatory and IT ecosystem, though headquartered and operating across multiple countries.
• Lifebrain: Lifebrain is an Italian-headquartered European clinical laboratory group with cross-border operations. Comparable as a multi-site European medical lab operator facing similar regulatory and digitalization pressures as French lab groups.
• Unilabs: Unilabs is a European provider of clinical laboratory and diagnostic services with French operations. Comparable as a multi-country medical lab player navigating the same French lab regulatory and IT procurement landscape.

Direct peers

• Cerba Healthcare: Cerba Healthcare is a leading French medical biology laboratory network offering routine and specialized diagnostics across France. Directly comparable as a French clinical lab operator that depends on the same SIL/middleware ecosystem and faces identical French regulatory dynamics.
• Biogroup: Biogroup is a major French medical biology laboratory group with multi-site operations across France. Directly comparable as a French medical lab operator with similar multi-site, multi-platform lab management requirements.
• Inovie: Inovie is one of the largest French groups of medical biology laboratories, serving regional and national B2B and patient testing markets. Comparable as a domestic French medical lab customer base for SIL and lab management software of the type Histone leverages.
• Maincare Solutions: Maincare Solutions is a French healthcare IT vendor providing hospital information systems, DPI, and digital health solutions to French hospitals and health establishments. Directly comparable as a domestic French hospital IT vendor competing for overlapping DPI/RIS/PACS mandates.

Broad incumbents

• Dedalus: Dedalus is a leading European healthcare IT vendor offering hospital information systems, diagnostic, and laboratory software across multiple countries including France. Comparable as a broader incumbent providing overlapping DPI, SIL, and diagnostic IT solutions, though at pan-European scale.
• Eurofins Scientific: Eurofins is a global leader in bioanalytical testing and clinical diagnostics, with significant French clinical laboratory presence. Comparable as a broad incumbent operating across clinical diagnostics and lab services in France, though at significantly larger scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/SoftwayMedical/?locale=fr_FR
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/histone

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Histone