Six million francs for rqmicro

The legally recognised, yet slow and imprecise detection methods for Legionella in drinking and process water are no longer up to today's requirements. The rqmicro.COUNT platform – one of the four products developed by rqmicro – overcomes technological limitations to widespread single cell analysis by deploying low-cost microfluidic cartridges. Users benefit from revolutionary portability and convenience and obtain single cell counts of viable and thus dangerous bacteria in less than 2 hours.

The company has already acquired the first customers for its rqmicro.COUNT platform and among them is HBICON GmbH. Kristina Scharenberg, managing director of the accredited environmental lab HBICON GmbH in Bielefeld, Germany, says that: “Today’s standard method for Legionella detection is still based on cultivating cells on petri dishes. Our industry needs to adopt a more quantitative approach towards managing water safety. rqmicro’s upcoming launch of the new instrument series is great news and we are looking forward to being one of the first users.”

To further accelerate market development and growth of the rqmicro.COUNT platform, the startup has completed the first closing of its series B round in which it raised CHF 6 million.  The round was led by a Swiss industrial group with participation from exciting investors. 

The Series B financing builds on an exceptional year for rqmicro with the reach of their first accreditation in the USA and product validations acquired in EU and China. “In order to further accelerate the international market development, we are planning to conclude the Series B growth round with a second closing of CHF 8.0m in the first half of 2021” said Tobias Schaad, CFO/COO of rqmicro and continued “we are thus reaching out to investors that seek exposure in the life sciences sector and aim to be part of an exceptional advancement in water safety.”