⦿ INSIGHTS

Why we Invested in PipeBio: no-code SaaS for bioinformatics and drug development

The human costs of the pandemic forced the scientific community to rethink how processes, such as drug development, can be done 10x faster than before. PipeBio is at the frontline of that development.
Why we Invested in PipeBio: no-code SaaS for bioinformatics and drug development
WRITTEN BY
Martin Krag Andersen
Investor
WRITTEN BY

Not long ago, biology was primarily a qualitative science. Scientists had to memorize incredible amounts of concepts, and it was challenging to speed up the workflows behind vital discoveries. However, the human costs of the pandemic forced the scientific community to rethink how processes, such as drug development, can be done 10x faster than before.

A significant part of the solution is novel and superior tools. Massive advances in genomics and exponentially decreasing costs of DNA sequencing have transformed biology into data science and created the perfect conditions for this transformation.

PipeBio is the no-code, cloud-based SaaS tool for drug development labs working with genomic data.

Torsten Kolind, a byFounders Collective member specializing in biotech, noted that "no-code bioinformatics is the missing piece with the power to merge two revolutions: in-silico life science, and engineering tools for non-coders. By joining these independent innovation forces, PipeBio is helping enable tomorrow's great biological advancements."

Initially, the founding team of Jannick and Owen have identified a fundamental niche of antibody and peptide analysis and are quickly shipping new measurement axes, such as single-cell analysis. 

With enough velocity, we believe PipeBio can expand to many other verticals in biological drug development and then to all of genomics to become a "Google Maps-like" industry-standard that replaces today's outdated "paper map-like" practices. On the way, it would revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry and save millions of lives by enabling scientists to cure complex diseases with novel drugs.

Founder-market Fit and Fast Execution

There is a fantastic founder/market fit, as CEO and co-founder, Jannick Bendtsen, is an experienced bioinformatician that extensively understands workflows required by the drug development labs. 

He holds a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). He has also previously worked at CLC bio (acquired by QIAGEN), Cartagenia (acquired by Agilent Technologies), and Biomatters (acquired by GraphPad), making him one of the most domain knowledgeable individuals globally. 

CTO and co-founder, Owen Bodley, is a serial entrepreneur and has also worked at Biomatters, where he met Jannick. Together, they created a software product enabling labs to execute their projects at a fraction of the time and money needed if the labs were to build custom solutions themselves. 

What impresses us the most about the team, aside from their extreme customer-centric focus, is the extraordinary pace with which they developed the product, acquired customers, and structured the company - all with minimal resources and while participating in Y Combinator. 

Niche Biotech Vertical with a Huge Upside Potential

The antibody and peptide category is just the starting point of something much bigger. 

Ultimately, Jannick and Owen are motivated by their desire to help the scientific community discover novel drugs and cure the world's worst diseases.

Over time, the product will evolve from an analytics tool to a complete biological drug development platform. 

Interestingly, customers have already started to integrate software tools used in the labs with PipeBio, making PipeBio the core of their labs. Given this organic demand pull, it's only down to PipeBio's ability to ship new features quickly and onboard new customers. 

Market-leading Product and Customer-centricity

Today, the alternative to PipeBio is often hiring in-house software developers with a bioinformatics background to build custom solutions.

PipeBio's solution is significantly cheaper than having a team of in-house bioinformaticians. It also lives in the cloud, is constantly updated with new features, and is integrated well with existing systems for increased efficiency.

Some of the leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies are among PipeBio's initial customers. They told us that PipeBio’s customer support is 'on another level,' enabling the scientists to create new workflows easily and rapidly.

Customers’ strong conviction in PipeBio validated the product to a great extent and showed us that there's no superior software product available on the market today.

More about the author(s)
Martin Krag Andersen
Investor


Martin leads investments and works with portfolio companies in a board capacity.

Particularly, he's focussing on frontier tech such as AI, climate tech, bits-to-atoms as well as verticalized SaaS and fintech. He is a former entrepreneur, having founded and worked with several startups in Denmark, Seoul, and Beijing.

Prior to working in tech, he spent a number of years as a professional online poker player, honing a skill set in game theory, math, and psychology - traits he now applies to venture investing. Martin holds a Master's in Political Science from Aarhus University and International Relations from Sogang University, Seoul.

Outside of work, he spends his time mountain biking and cold water surfing, or playing with his son and daughter.

More about the author(s)
No items found.
External
October 31, 2022

byFounders and Creative Force team up to bring leading e-commerce brands industry-changing solutions

Creative Force’s mission is to streamline and enable creative operations for leading e-commerce brands and online retailers. In a nutshell, they automate manual tasks so the creator can focus on creativity.
External
September 22, 2022

byFounders leads the €2.3 million pre-seed round in Cello: supercharging product growth by making word-of-mouth rewarding

Cello is the world’s first user-led growth platform that helps businesses to harness their most passionate users to drive word-of-mouth growth at scale.
External
July 8, 2022

Our investment in Salto X: the platform enabling token incentive plans for remote companies

“The main bottleneck for European startup growth is not the lack of capital, it’s the lack of talent!” This sentence has been said by many and I’m now stating it again because it’s sadly the truth. If we are serious about wanting Europe’s tech scene to thrive (and one day be on par - or better - than the US) then we need to drastically improve our ability to attract and retain talent.
External
May 20, 2022

Aumio raises €3 million to support children’s mental health through playful learning

We’ve been truly excited by the emergence of parenting tech for a while now, and supporting children and their parents in dealing with mental health struggles is a mission we obviously want to stand behind. We’ve been actively looking for the right combination of a product market fit and founder drive. When we came across Aumio - a unique sleep and mindfulness cosmos for children - jumping onboard was a no-brainer for us. Let us tell you why. 
External
December 17, 2021

London-based Fuzey, the digital one-stop-shop for SMEs and independent contractors, raises a €4m seed round

We’re so proud to lead the €4m seed round in London-based Fuzey: the all-in-one messaging platform that centralizes small businesses’ communications, payments, marketing, and calendars. 
External
November 2, 2021

Our Investment in Monta: Powering the EV Ecosystem

We invested in Monta in March this year. Since then, Casper and Anders and the rest of the team have not looked back and we are firm believers in Monta being on track to be the dominant EV charging platform in Europe and beyond. Here’s why:
External
October 29, 2021

Why we Invested in PipeBio: no-code SaaS for bioinformatics and drug development

The human costs of the pandemic forced the scientific community to rethink how processes, such as drug development, can be done 10x faster than before. PipeBio is at the frontline of that development.
External
September 10, 2021

Why We Invested in Januar: Financial infrastructure for crypto companies

For too long crypto native companies have been lacking a stable and secure banking foundation to run their businesses from without the fear of being shut down by their, presumed, banking partner. Enter Januar.
External
June 22, 2021

Why we invested in GamerzClass

When first meeting Victor Folmann and listening to a very candid podcast episode he did on Iværksætterhistorier we learned that Victor’s entrepreneurial career started already in his teens. He quickly realized that he had a knack for sales; whether it was vegetables or cell phones didn’t matter; you had something to sell; he was your guy.
External
March 19, 2021

Why We Invested in Digitail

"There are few things with my job that I appreciate more than when people drastically surpass all my expectations!" - Sara Rywe, Investor here at byFounders, was so impressed by the founder's tenacity, extraordinary grit and structure, she knew we absolutely needed to be part of their journey.
External
February 21, 2021

Why we invested in Proper

At byFounders, we instantly got excited about the idea of building a digital property manager that automates all manual tasks while also ensuring that the property owner and landlord feel in control. More importantly, we were captivated by the founders.
External
June 15, 2020

Why we invested in Bob W

On why we invested in Bob W - an alternative to hotels and hosted homes. By sourcing and decorating high-quality suites in curated neighborhoods, Bob W can offer the livability and affordability of short-stay homes with the consistency and sustainability at scale of a hotel, 100% digital and touchless.

Delete me when done