Dutch Startup Secures €24 Million to Deliver Infection Results in One Hour Instead of Days

2026-01-23 bio

Eindhoven, Friday, 23 January 2026.
ShanX Medtech can identify which antibiotics work against infections in just one hour, compared to current methods that take two to three days. This breakthrough could revolutionize how doctors treat infections and combat antimicrobial resistance globally.

Healthtech Innovation Addresses Critical Medical Challenge

This innovation falls squarely within the healthtech sector, specifically addressing antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) technology [1][2]. The technology tackles one of healthcare’s most pressing challenges: antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve to resist the drugs designed to kill them [GPT]. Current diagnostic methods require two to three days to determine which antibiotics will be effective against a specific infection, often forcing clinicians to prescribe broad-spectrum antibiotics before test results are available [3]. This delay contributes to antimicrobial resistance and can postpone effective treatment, creating a cycle that worsens patient outcomes and drives the global AMR crisis.

Revolutionary Speed in Infection Diagnosis

ShanX Medtech’s breakthrough technology delivers antimicrobial susceptibility results within one hour directly from patient samples [1][2][3]. The platform uses novel chemistry to monitor microbial metabolism with minimal user involvement, designed for both laboratory and point-of-care settings [3]. This represents a dramatic improvement over traditional methods that take days to provide results. The company’s initial go-to-market strategy will focus on urinary tract infections as a women’s health application, though the underlying platform offers substantial potential across a wide range of clinical indications [3]. The technology’s speed could fundamentally change how physicians approach infection treatment, enabling them to prescribe the most effective antibiotics immediately rather than relying on broad-spectrum alternatives while waiting for lab results.

Leadership and Company Origins

ShanX Medtech was founded in 2019 by Dr. Sophia E. Shanko, who serves as the company’s founder and CEO [1][2]. The company emerged from research conducted at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and is located at the High Tech Campus Eindhoven [1][2]. Shanko’s motivation for creating the company stems from a deeply personal experience. As she explained, ‘We founded ShanX Medtech because of a single patient story that showed how much is at stake when diagnostic results arrive too late’ [1][2][3]. The company’s leadership team also includes Ardjan van der Linden as Chief Scientific Officer and Prof. Jaap den Toonder, who served as Shanko’s PhD supervisor [2]. Shanko’s background includes being born in Albania, growing up in Greece, and eventually settling in the Netherlands, where her mother’s serious illness that could have been prevented became her driving motivation to pursue medical innovation [7].

Substantial Funding from Multiple Sources

The €24 million funding package announced on January 8, 2026, combines two distinct components [1][2][9]. The company secured an oversubscribed €15 million seed round led by Borski Fund, with participation from NextGen Ventures, CbusineZ, Brabant Development Agency (BOM), Invest-NL, and a strategic angel fund [1][2][3]. Additionally, ShanX Medtech received an €8.85 million contract from the European Commission through the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) and European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) [1][2][3]. This dual funding structure demonstrates both private investor confidence and public sector recognition of the technology’s potential impact on healthcare systems. The oversubscribed nature of the seed round indicates strong market demand for solutions addressing antimicrobial resistance.

Strategic Investment and Market Preparation

The funding will support final development, clinical validation, regulatory approval, and market introduction of ShanX Medtech’s in-vitro diagnostic platform [1][2][3]. The company plans to use the investment to expand its team, strengthen clinical partnerships, and prepare for commercial launch [1][2]. Simone Brummelhuis, Partner at Borski Fund, emphasized the technology’s potential, stating that ‘following an extensive market analysis of innovations addressing antimicrobial resistance, ShanX’s technology clearly emerged as best-in-class’ [3]. Paul Vernooij, Investment Manager at Brabant Development Agency, noted that ‘antimicrobial resistance represents one of the most critical unmet needs in global healthcare, with few effective solutions available today’ [3]. The success reinforces Eindhoven’s position as a leading European hub for MedTech innovation [1][2], with the funding representing one of the significant European startup deals in early January 2026 [9].

Bronnen

medtech funding infection diagnostics