Thrive Bioscience

Founded in 2014 and based in the Boston area, Thrive Bioscience is a developer of automated instruments and software designed to address the reproducibility crisis in biomedical research. The company was co-founded by Thomas Forest Farb-Horch, who serves as CEO, and Alan P. Blanchard, Ph.D., the Chief Scientific Officer. Farb-Horch is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in founding technology and life science companies, including ventures in artificial intelligence, analytics, and healthcare that have culminated in multi-billion dollar exits. This background in converging technologies informs Thrive's approach to automating cell biology. The company's initial seed financing round in 2015 raised $4.0 million to accelerate the commercialization of its solutions.

Thrive Bioscience's business model centers on the sale of its CellAssist family of instruments and accompanying proprietary software to the life sciences market. The company targets a broad client base, including pharmaceutical companies, academic research institutions, and contract research organizations (CROs). These clients operate in sectors such as drug discovery and development, regenerative medicine, infectious disease research, and basic biological research. Revenue is generated through the sale of these high-value systems, with an average sales price around $200,000, and by providing software modules that enhance research assays and insights through machine learning. The company's estimated annual revenue is approximately $7.6 million.

The core of Thrive's offering is the CellAssist platform, an automated live cell imaging system that captures, analyzes, and documents cell cultures. Products include the CellAssist Benchtop Imager and the higher-throughput CellAssist 50, which integrates a 50-plate incubator for larger-scale experiments. These instruments provide bright-field and phase contrast imaging at multiple magnifications and can capture images across more than 100 focal planes, creating a detailed 3D topography of cells. A key benefit is the system's ability to create a centralized, time-stamped database of images and data, ensuring traceability and comparability over time, which directly addresses common lab issues like inconsistent imaging and incomplete documentation. The software suite allows researchers to remotely access and analyze extensive datasets, freeing up time and reducing manual intervention. By automating the entire imaging and data management process, Thrive enables researchers to conduct more experiments efficiently, improve the reproducibility of their work, and gain deeper insights into cell dynamics.

Keywords: live cell imaging, cell culture automation, laboratory automation, reproducible research, cell biology, drug discovery, regenerative medicine, infectious disease research, stem cell culture, automated microscopy, quantitative cell biology, high-content imaging, cell analytics, laboratory informatics, cell-based assays, tissue culture, benchtop imagers, cell line development, 3D cell culture, spheroid imaging, biotechnology instruments, life science tools