PureTrace Labs

Name

PureTrace Labs

Legal name

PureTrace Labs

Website

https://puretracelabs.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2025

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Testing Services

NAICS

Testing Laboratories and Services (54138), Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing (334516)

SIC

Services-Testing Laboratories (8734), Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEUANAJAF

Emerging Contaminants Testing & Risk Management (PFAS, microplastics, pharmaceuticals)

Energy, Utilities & Environment/Water & Wastewater Utilities/Water Quality Testing, Compliance & Reporting

SECONDARYEUANAJAB

Laboratory Testing & Analytical Services (in-house/contract labs; microbiology, metals, organics)

Energy, Utilities & Environment/Water & Wastewater Utilities/Water Quality Testing, Compliance & Reporting

SECONDARYAFALAFAI

Emerging Contaminants Testing (PFAS, Microplastics)

Agriculture & Food Production/Food Safety, Testing & Certification/Residue & Contaminant Testing (Pesticides, Veterinary Drugs, Mycotoxins, Heavy Metals)

SECONDARYBPALAKAJ

PFAS Investigation & Remediation

Business & Public Services/Waste Management & Remediation Services/Environmental Remediation & Site Cleanup (Soil/Groundwater)

SECONDARYHLAGADAO

Water & Utility Testing (PW/WFI/Steam/Gases)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Life Science Tools & Services (CRO/CDMO/Lab Services)/Laboratory Testing & Analytical Services

Keywords

• PFAS detection services
• Water contamination testing
• Soil contamination testing
• Food packaging screening
• Mass spectrometry instrumentation

Headquarters

HQ city

Newark

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Lab-based PFAS Detection Services: Provides laboratory PFAS detection services targeting environmental health markets. Services offered for water, soil, and food packaging materials.
2. Portable Testing Devices: Production and sale of portable, rapid testing devices for environmental monitoring. Early commercialization stage.
3. Pilot Program Services: Free pilot programs generating feedback and validation data while building customer relationships and market presence.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

PureTrace Labs provides rapid PFAS (forever chemicals) detection services for water, soil, and food-contact packaging materials using proprietary Paper Spray Mass Spectrometry (PS-MS) and Desalting Paper Spray MS (DPS-MS) methods developed at NJIT. The company delivers screening results in under three minutes at parts-per-trillion sensitivity, serving homeowners, home inspectors, municipalities, environmental engineering firms, packaging manufacturers, and water utilities, and is developing portable testing devices to complement its lab-based services.

Product overview

PureTrace Labs is an early-stage technology startup offering rapid PFAS (forever chemicals) detection services using proprietary Paper Spray Mass Spectrometry (PS-MS) and Desalting Paper Spray MS (DPS-MS) technology developed at NJIT. The company provides a unified screening platform encompassing three core services: Water Screening (for tap, ground, and surface water), Soil Screening (for residential, agricultural, and industrial sites), and Packaging Screening (for paper, cardboard, and food-contact materials). All services deliver results in under three minutes with parts-per-trillion sensitivity, significantly faster than traditional LC-MS/MS methods that can take up to 21 days. The company is also developing a consumer-facing PFAS Home Test Kit and offers pilot programs for home inspectors, positioning itself as an accessible screening solution for homeowners, municipalities, environmental professionals, and packaging manufacturers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• PFAS Home Test Kit: A free in-home PFAS test kit offered as part of the company's in-home pilot study program, allowing homeowners to collect samples and return them in prepaid mailers for PFAS screening.
• In-Home PFAS Screening Test

Products and services

• Water Screening Rapid PFAS detection service for tap, ground, and surface water, delivering results in under three minutes at parts-per-trillion sensitivity. Targeted at homeowners, home inspectors, and water utilities for residential and municipal water quality testing.
• Soil Screening Rapid PFAS detection service for residential, agricultural, and industrial soil sites, designed to find contamination hotspots and guide remediation efforts. Targeted at municipalities, environmental teams, and remediation firms.
• Packaging Screening Rapid PFAS screening service for paper, cardboard, and food-contact packaging materials, enabling pre-compliance detection before formal LC-MS/MS testing. Targeted at packaging manufacturers and consumer goods sustainability teams.
• PFAS Home Test Kit Consumer-facing in-home PFAS test kit that lets homeowners collect water samples at home and return them in a prepaid mailer for PFAS screening, currently offered through a limited pilot study.
• Home Inspector PFAS Pilot Program Free pilot program that provides home inspectors with one PFAS test kit, results in 2-5 days, and a full screening report so they can evaluate in-home PFAS screening in real-world inspection conditions.

Quantifiable outcome

• Under 3 minutes for PFAS detection (vs 21 days for traditional labs)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 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

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• NJ PFAS Partnership Innovation Consortium (NJ PFAS-PIC)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 April 2026PureTrace Labs participates in the New Jersey PFAS Partnership Innovation Consortium launched at NJIT, bringing together approximately 300 participants from nearly 100 companies, government agencies, and academic institutions to develop technologies for PFAS detection, remediation, and material substitution.
• NJIT (New Jersey Institute of Technology)coreTechnology or Integration · 30 October 2025PureTrace Labs commercializes PFAS detection technology developed by Professor Hao Chen's team at NJIT. The technology uses paper-spray mass spectrometry to detect 'forever chemicals' in water, soil, and packaging materials in under three minutes. NJIT is an R1 research university at the forefront of PFAS research.
• NJII (New Jersey Innovation Institute)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 October 2025NJII's Venture Studio launched PureTrace Labs as the first company from its program, which aims to launch 10 companies by 2030. NJII provided up to $1 million in investment and commercialization support. PureTrace Labs emerged from NJII's Innovation Studio connecting university research with industry partners.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Bureau Veritas: Bureau Veritas is a global TIC incumbent offering accredited PFAS testing in water, food, soil, and consumer products under ISO 17025 methods. It is a direct comparable incumbent for enterprise PFAS compliance work, particularly in packaging and consumer goods.
• Eurofins Scientific: Eurofins is the world's largest environmental and food testing services network operating accredited LC-MS/MS PFAS panels across water, soil, and food-contact matrices globally. It defines the LC-MS/MS compliance benchmark PureTrace explicitly positions against and represents the most likely enterprise incumbent a PureTrace buyer would otherwise use.
• Pace Analytical Services: Pace operates a national U.S. network of environmental and life-science testing labs offering EPA-validated PFAS methods for water, soil, and consumer products. It is a U.S.-based incumbent that serves many of the same municipal and industrial customers PureTrace is targeting with its pilot programs.
• ALS Limited: ALS is a global environmental testing services provider with extensive PFAS offerings for water utilities, soil, and waste streams, with strong U.S. presence. It is comparable as a large-scale testing services incumbent competing for the same municipal and environmental remediation RFPs PureTrace is targeting.
• SGS: SGS is a global TIC (testing, inspection, certification) incumbent running accredited PFAS analyses for water utilities, packaging companies, and industrial clients. It is a comparable incumbent whose compliance-certified testing volume is the incumbent alternative PureTrace must displace or complement for enterprise accounts.

Others

• Agilent Technologies: Agilent is the dominant LC-MS/MS and GC-MS instrument manufacturer, also referenced as a funder of Dr. Chen's research, and supplies the hardware stack that traditional PFAS compliance labs use. It is relevant as both a research partner and the platform incumbent whose instruments set the regulatory standard PureTrace must complement.
• SCIEX (Danaher): SCIEX is a major mass spectrometry instrument vendor whose high-sensitivity QTOF and triple-quad systems underpin many PFAS analytical workflows. It is comparable as the upstream instrument ecosystem that defines LC-MS/MS performance for PFAS detection and overlaps with PureTrace's mass-spec technology stack.
• Shimadzu Scientific Instruments: Shimadzu is a leading analytical instrument manufacturer offering LC-MS/MS and GC-MS systems widely used in PFAS analysis. It is comparable as a mass-spec instrumentation provider whose hardware underpins traditional PFAS labs competing in the same detection market category.

Emerging players

• Hach (Danaher): Hach supplies portable and online water-quality analytical instruments and reagents used by utilities for routine and emerging contaminant monitoring. It is a relevant peer addressing the same water-utility buyer with portable/field PFAS and water-quality screening tools.
• 908 Devices: 908 Devices makes portable and desktop mass spectrometry and separation tools (e.g., MX908, Rebel) used for chemical detection in field settings, including trace contaminants. It is highly relevant as the most direct mass-spec-based emerging player building portable detection hardware for environmental and security use cases overlapping PureTrace's portable platform.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/puretrace-labs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

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 PureTrace Labs