TetraScience, a startup bringing the Internet of Things to scientific instruments and lab equipment, has been steadily growing over the past year - despite keeping much of their traction under wraps. For instance, it secured a “substantial round of funding in 2015,” according to co-founder and CEO Alok Tayi, and it’s just now revealed one of its investors is Digital Science. So they’re starting to loosen their tight lip. Just a bit, though.
While Alok didn’t disclose how much TetraScience raised in their seed round last June, he did explain the history behind the venture’s rapport with Digital Science. “The engagement began in 2014, when we were a recipient of their Catalyst Grant, which is issued once a year to promising startup in the space,” Tayi said.
After the two organizations got to know one another, their relationship lead to Digital Science making an investment in the startup, alongside a handful of other investors who are still on the down low, after TetraScience had completed the Y Combinator program.
We’ve only spent about a quarter or less of what we’ve raised.
In the past year, Tayi shared, “We’ve been fortunate that the industry we’re in has been looking for the solution we’re providing, so customer revenue has been able to go back into the company… We’ve only spent about a quarter or less of what we’ve raised.”
Any money spent so far has been used to “prove one main thing: The mantra of Y Combinator, ‘Make something people want,’” Tayi shared. TetraScience has been focused on building the infrastructure needed to support the integration of different scientific instruments with their software. And the startup is striving to ensure leading institutions - whether they be prestigious universities, major enterprises relying on research or lab equipment manufacturers - want to work with them.
In the past six months, TetraScience has scaled to three dozen, pushing four dozen customers, according to Tayi, including “top notch institutions” who want to work with them. One customer, which they’re looking to disclose in a matter of months, is a prominent pharmaceutical company in the Boston area - and they’re dreaming big when it comes to how they’ll use TetraScience to expedite their go-to-market processes.
Although 60 to 70 percent of the venture’s customer base comprises pharmaceutical and biotech companies, there are other industries getting in on its IoT offerings. Tayi explained there’s been growing interest among organizations in the oil, gas and chemical fields, which use the same instruments and similar experimentation processes to complete their work.
Looking ahead, TetraScience is planning on making waves when they finally announce their notable but still secretive Boston pharma customer. And it’s also expecting to continue the momentum they’ve made so far, adding new employees and customers while expanding in existing accounts.
“We’ve doubled our headcount, doubled our customer base and doubled our revenue,” he said of the first half of the year. “We’re continuing that pace through the end 2016.”
