Opentrons raises $40M Series E to put AI-designed experiments on lab robots

For lab managers and pharma buyers, the round adds another well-funded supplier of open, API-driven liquid handlers. That matters if AI tools keep multiplying the number of experiments that need running. Competitors selling closed systems face a cheaper alternative. The company says its installed base is more than 11,000 robots in 80-plus countries. What nobody has disclosed is the valuation, the investor stakes, or how many of those robots are still in use.

Two robots and a software layer

Opentrons was founded in 2014 and sells two benchtop machines. The Flex is the enclosed, higher-capacity robot, with an optional gripper that moves plates between steps.

The OT-2 is smaller and cheaper. It is aimed at labs that want routine pipetting handled without paying for Flex's capacity or plate handling. The Flex can work on more samples at once and run more of an experiment without a person, SiliconANGLE reported. Both ship configured for DNA extraction, PCR, protein purification and ELISAs, the assays that fill much of a molecular biology lab's day. Opentrons describes the platform as open and API-driven, meant to slot into existing workflows rather than replace them wholesale.

The software is where the AI pitch lives. Opentrons sells tools for automating sample preparation and other repetitive work. It says each run produces structured, reproducible data that later models can use, Pulse 2.0 reported.

"Millions of scientists spend much of their day on manual work a robot can do," chief executive James Atwood said in the announcement. "Giving that time back to discovery is the biggest opportunity in science."

11,000 robots, and a customer list the company supplies

Opentrons says it has deployed more than 11,000 robots in more than 80 countries. It also says its systems are used by 90% of the 20 largest pharmaceutical companies, by every top-20 U.S. research university and by 14 of the 15 largest global biopharmaceutical companies.

None of that has been independently verified.

No outlet covering the round checked the figures. Opentrons did not break out revenue, unit sales by year or how many of the 11,000 machines are still in service. A robot shipped years ago and since retired counts the same as one installed recently. Read the customer list as a claim sheet, not an audited number.

Who is paying, and what is not being said

Avego led the round, with BroadOak Capital Partners participating. Existing investors include SoftBank Vision Fund and Khosla Ventures, according to Pulse 2.0, plus Sands Capital, Lerer Hippeau and Y Combinator, citybiz reported.

Opentrons did not disclose its valuation or the stakes investors took.

That silence matters. A $40 million round tells you how much cash is going in, not what anyone thinks the company is worth. It leaves no way to check whether the price rose or fell since the previous round. Avego, founded in 2015, invests across healthcare from New York and Georgia.

The bet behind the round

"Every AI-driven discovery still has to be tested in a real lab," Avego managing partner James Flexner said in the announcement.

The proceeds go to AI-driven experiment execution, faster protocol development, integration with third-party instruments and entry into new markets, according to Pulse 2.0 and citybiz. Opentrons argues the physical lab is becoming the bottleneck as models get faster at proposing experiments. Each automated run, in that telling, produces the structured data the next model needs.

For lab managers the round means another well-funded supplier to quote against. For rivals selling closed automation systems, it means a cheaper, open alternative with a large installed base.

The company has not said which new markets it means, how many robots the money should add, or when any of it lands.