Dutch Medical Startup Secures €24 Million to Cut Infection Testing Time from Days to One Hour

2026-01-16 bio

Eindhoven, Friday, 16 January 2026.
ShanX Medtech’s revolutionary diagnostic platform delivers antibiotic susceptibility results in just one hour, replacing traditional methods that take 2-3 days and potentially saving millions in healthcare costs annually.

Breakthrough HealthTech Innovation Addresses Critical Medical Challenge

ShanX Medtech represents a significant advancement in healthtech, specifically targeting one of healthcare’s most pressing challenges: antimicrobial resistance [1]. The company announced on January 6, 2026, that it secured €24 million in total financing, combining a €15 million oversubscribed seed round with an €8.85 million contract from the European Commission [1][2]. This Eindhoven-based startup, founded in 2019 and operating from the High Tech Campus Eindhoven, emerged directly from research conducted at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) [1][3]. The company’s breakthrough lies in its In-Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) platform that delivers antimicrobial susceptibility testing results within approximately one hour, compared to conventional methods requiring 2 to 3 days [3][5].

Revolutionary Technology Transforms Diagnostic Speed and Accuracy

The company’s diagnostic platform operates by analyzing patient samples directly, completely bypassing the traditional need to culture bacteria [3]. This revolutionary approach uses a stackable cartridge system to test a range of microbes, enabling the technology to be deployed in decentralized settings including general practitioner clinics, nursing homes, and smaller hospitals [3]. The system employs novel chemistry to monitor microbial metabolism with minimal user involvement, making it suitable for both laboratory and point-of-care environments [7]. Dr. Sophia E. Shanko, founder and CEO, explained the motivation behind the innovation: ‘We founded ShanX Medtech because of a single patient story that showed how much is at stake when diagnostic results arrive too late. Our goal is to equip clinicians with real-time diagnostic evidence, so they can act decisively’ [1]. The technology’s primary objective is to enable clinicians to test, diagnose, and prescribe the correct antibiotic during a single patient visit, fundamentally changing the treatment timeline [3].

Leadership and Strategic Focus on Women’s Health

The company is led by Dr. Sophia E. Shanko as founder and CEO, alongside Ardjan van der Linden as Chief Scientific Officer, both of whom completed their PhDs at TU/e [1]. ShanX Medtech’s initial go-to-market strategy focuses specifically on women’s health, particularly urinary tract infections (UTIs), while the underlying technology platform offers potential across a wide range of clinical indications [2][7]. The company is currently conducting clinical validation through partnerships with Erasmus Medical Center and AMR GLOBAL for urinary tract infections, with funding support from Health Holland [3][5]. Additionally, ShanX is collaborating with Catharina Hospital and Eindhoven University of Technology to assess the device’s performance in treating more severe conditions including sepsis and meningitis [3][5]. The technology requires regulatory approval before it can be commercially available [5].

Significant Financial Backing and Projected Healthcare Savings

The funding round was led by Borski Fund, with participation from NextGen Ventures, CbusineZ, Brabant Development Agency (BOM), Invest-NL, and a strategic angel fund [1][2]. The European Commission portion, totaling €8.85 million, comes through the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) under contract HADEA/2025/CPN/0006 [2][8]. Invest-NL projects that widespread adoption of ShanX’s rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing technology could generate millions of euros in annual healthcare savings in the Netherlands through reduced hospital stays and treatment failures [3][5]. Simone Brummelhuis, Partner at Borski Fund, stated: ‘Following an extensive market analysis of innovations addressing antimicrobial resistance, ShanX’s technology clearly emerged as best-in-class. The oversubscribed financing round, together with multiple multi-million-euro commercial contracts, underscores both the strength of the technology and the founder’s proven commercial execution’ [2][8]. The funding will accelerate final development, clinical validation, regulatory approval, and commercial launch of the ultra-rapid AST platform [1][2].

Bronnen

medtech diagnostics infection detection