Our history timeline

Discover the moments that made us the company we are today

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2021

Biggest growth yet

  • LUMICKS raised $93 million in series D funding.
  • With 128 new hires – including 10 in key senior positions – we more than doubled in company size.
  • Continued to empower researchers with more than 35 articles published in high-impact journals using LUMICKS’ technology.
  • Rapid growth of z-Movi user base in immuno-oncology, with placements at elite academic and commercial institutions such as Harvard University, Oxford University, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, INmune Bio, and more.
  • Installed C-Trap and m-Trap instruments in renowned institutes, including at VIB, Westlake University, TU Munich, and the University of Pittsburgh.
  • Launched new services and initiatives tackling the full DSM experimental workflow from experimental design to data analysis

Image: Various publications using LUMICKS’ technology.

2020

Discovering new parameters

  • Launched z-Movi Cell Avidity Analyzer to the public and made first sales and collaborations with biotech companies (LAVA therapeutics, Glycostem, Leucid Bio) and academia.
  • Installed C-Trap and m-Trap instruments in world-leading institutes in 4 continents: National Institutes of Health (NIH), Emory University, Technical University of Munich (TUM), RIKEN – Center for Brain Science in Japan, the National Centre for Biotechnology (CNB) in Spain, University of Chile and many more.
  • Successfully adapted to the pandemic, and still hired 42 new LUMIs and grew to 130 employees.
  • Established the first office in Beijing to serve the APR market.
  • Launched DSM consumables line and Harbor script-sharing platform to make DSM analysis easier and more reproducible.
  • Installed an ML-II (biosafety level 2) lab at the LUMICKS headquarters.

Image: The z-Movi® Cell Avidity Analyzer.

2019

Onward and upward

  • LUMICKS grew to over 100 employees, doubling that of the previous year.
  • We moved our Amsterdam HQ from Vrije University to a vast 1750-meter-squared complex which we fit with 7 unique meeting rooms, advanced R&D facilities, and a dedicated area for seminars.
  • Our grand reopening was inaugurated by Dutch minister van Engelshoven.
  • Expanded the C-Trap with the Surface Assay Toolkit (SAT): unique assortment of new features to deliver ultra-stable surface arrays at the single-molecule level.
  • More sales to key institutions worldwide: Universities of Munich, Tel Aviv, Vermont, Tianjin, Vanderbilt, NIH, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Image: Microtubules imaged in real-time using the C-Trap optical tweezers correlated with widefield and label-free microscopy.

Widefield IRM

2018

Expanding across new markets

  • First sales in South America & Australia; new customers in TU Delft, University at Buffalo, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Semmelweis University, Ludwig Maxmillian University, and many more.
  • LUMICKS grows to 55 people.
  • Established the first Center for dynamic single-molecule drug research in partnership with AstraZeneca and the University of Cambridge.
  • Entered the immunology market with z-Movi for Cell avidity measurements.
  • Launched G2 product line & next-gen Bluelake software.
  • Developed Surface Assay toolkit for use in cell biology.

Image: The LUMICKS team, end of 2018.

2017

A global presence

  • Sales to Imperial College London, Johns Hopkins University, University of Zurich and more.
  • First Pharmaceutical Customers.
  • 30% revenue from China.
  • Opened LUMICKS’ first US Sales office in Boston, Massachusetts.
  • Received series A funding.
  • The company grew to 38 employees.
  • Started investing in scale-up.

Image: The m-Trap® Optical Tweezers.

2016

Key accounts and broadening technologies

  • Sales to Rockefeller University, AMOLF, ShanghaiTech University, University of Göttingen.
  • First Nature publication with data captured using C-Trap.
  • Organic growth.
  • Developed Acoustic Force Spectroscopy technology.
  • First C-Trap installations in peer-reviewed journals.
  • LUMICKS grew to 19 FTEs.
  • Break even.

Image: Co-founder & CEO Olivier Heyning accepts the 2016 Young Start-up Award. Picture by Eric Brinkhorst

2015

Breaking through

  • First C-Trap sales following product introduction.
  • BIOCEV Prague & MPI-CBG, the first two C-Trap users.
  • 12 employees.
  • Break-even.

Image: The C-Trap® Optical Tweezers – Fluorescence Microscopy & Label-free Microsopy.

2014

LUMICKS incorporated

  • First component sale to Harvard.
  • License agreement.
  • LUMICKS was founded.

Image: Co-founder Andrea Candelli demonstrating LUMICKS technology to State Secretary Sander Dekker.

2013

The first steps

  • The first patent filed.
  • Publication in Nature on CTFM Technology.
  • ERC Proof of Concept subsidy granted.