Startups 

BugSee is a Sweden-based diagnostic platform company focused on one of the most critical challenges in infectious disease diagnostics: rapidly isolating viable bacterial and fungal pathogens directly from whole blood. In bloodstream infections, pathogens are present in extremely low concentrations and are masked by complex human cellular material. The ability to efficiently isolate intact, viable microorganisms at this early stage is fundamental to accelerating identification, sequencing, and antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST). 

Today’s microbiology ecosystem  – despite advances in MALDI-TOF, multiplex PCR, rapid phenotypic AST, and next-generation sequencing – remains constrained by the time required to obtain a sufficiently clean and viable pathogen fraction. Conventional workflows depend on lengthy culture amplification before meaningful downstream analysis can begin, resulting in diagnostic timelines of 24–72 hours in sepsis. This delay drives empirical broad-spectrum antibiotic use, contributes to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), prolongs ICU stays, and increases mortality risk. 

BugSee addresses this bottleneck at its origin: the pre-analytical step. By enabling rapid isolation and enrichment of viable pathogens from blood, the platform creates earlier access to clinically actionable material without requiring fundamental changes to existing diagnostic infrastructure. The isolated pathogen fraction is designed to be fully compatible with established blood culture systems, MALDI-TOF workflows, molecular panels, sequencing platforms, and rapid AST technologies. 

This positioning creates clear integration and portfolio-expansion opportunities for global diagnostic leaders such as BioMérieux, BD, Qiagen, and Bruker, who are continuously seeking to shorten time-to-result and strengthen the value of their installed base. 

The first product, BugPheno (RUO), is commercially available and demonstrates competitive performance versus benchmark sample-preparation methods. Regulatory preparation toward IVDR approval is underway, supported by ongoing validation activities in Europe and the United States. 

BugSee’s ambition is to establish viable pathogen isolation as the new pre-analytical standard in bloodstream infection diagnostics  – unlocking faster identification, AST, and sequencing across the global microbiology market.