According to EU-Startups, Munich-based biotech startup Amplifold has closed an oversubscribed €5 million Seed funding round. The spin-off from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) will use the capital to industrialize its DNA-origami-based signal amplification platform for lateral flow assays (LFAs), like common rapid tests. The round was co-led by Matterwave Ventures and XISTA Science Ventures, with participation from Bayern Kapital, b2venture, and Becker Ventures. The company claims its technology can deliver roughly 100-fold higher analytical sensitivity at essentially the same cost as conventional tests. Amplifold also announced that Dr. Federico Bürsgens, a 15-year IVD industry veteran, will join as CEO next year, and the company will relocate to the Innovation and Start-Up Centre for Biotechnology in Martinsried.
The Sensitivity Game
Here’s the thing about lateral flow tests: they’re cheap, fast, and everywhere. But they’ve always had a trade-off. You sacrifice a lot of sensitivity for that convenience and low cost. What Amplifold is claiming—a 100x sensitivity boost without blowing up the cost of goods—is a pretty big deal if they can pull it off at scale. It basically means you could detect diseases or biomarkers much earlier, or in much lower concentrations, using the same simple strip format. That’s the holy grail for point-of-care diagnostics. Dr. Enzo Kopperger’s point about plugging into existing manufacturing workflows is the real killer feature, though. It means established diagnostic companies could potentially upgrade their products without retooling their entire factory. That’s a much easier sell than asking them to reinvent the wheel.
Investors Doubling Down on Deep Tech
The article mentions other recent raises, like arcoris bio’s €6.7 million and Detechgene’s €3.2 million. It’s a clear signal. Investors are getting comfortable—or desperate enough—to fund the brutally expensive, regulatory-heavy early stages of biotech hardware again. They’re looking for platforms, not just single tests. Amplifold’s DNA-origami is a platform tech. You could theoretically adapt it for a whole range of biomarkers. That potential for multiple shots on goal makes the high upfront R&D and clinical trial costs a bit more palatable. But let’s be real, €5 million is just the starting pistol in this race. Getting through IVDR approval in Europe is a marathon that eats capital for breakfast. This funding gets them to the starting line of that regulatory slog.
The Industrialization Hurdle
So they’ve proven it works in the lab. Now comes the hard part: making it work consistently, at scale, in a factory. Manufacturing anything with biological components, like DNA-origami nanostructures, is a world away from perfecting it in a university lab. It requires precision, sterile environments, and rigorous quality control—the kind of industrial discipline that’s crucial for any hardware-based medical device. This is where the move to the IZB hub and bringing on a seasoned CEO like Dr. Bürsgens makes perfect sense. They need that operational and regulatory expertise to cross the chasm from cool science to certified product. It’s a common pivot for deep-tech spin-offs, and it’s often where they stumble.
A Shift in the Diagnostic Landscape
If Amplifold and companies like it succeed, what happens? The line between a central lab test and a rapid point-of-care test gets blurrier. That could put pressure on traditional lab service providers for certain high-volume tests. But more interestingly, it could enable entirely new testing scenarios—monitoring chronic diseases at home with clinic-level accuracy, or doing sophisticated environmental or food safety testing in the field. The winners would be the companies that can master the blend of nanotechnology, biology, and scalable manufacturing. The losers? Anyone relying on old, less sensitive rapid-test chemistry without a plan to evolve. It’s a fascinating space to watch, because when you mix nanotechnology with diagnostics, you’re not just improving a product—you’re potentially reshaping how and where we understand our health.
jkg3tr