“Unfortunately, very little attention turned into sales”

Oskari, your company was founded 2.5 years ago as a lab automation company. Can you quickly tell us what your company is doing and what the milestones were during this ramp-up phase?

Well, in the start we were evolving quite fast and, in retrospect, I look at it a little bit like a research project where you are trying to figure out the answers, and sometimes the answers are not what you have been expecting. Initially, we started with an ETH Pioneer Fellowship grant and we were supposed to focus on computer vision tools to improve lab automation. However, quite quickly when we were talking to potential customers we realised that this is not really what they needed. It became clear to us that what was missing in the labs were automation solutions that are really easy to step up your lab work. If any of you guys have any experience in the D-BSSE Lab Automation Facility: it is quite an effort to get started with an automated workflow. It was clear to us that this should be easier. So, we started with our first customer in fall 2017 and that was the moment when we incorporated UniteLabs to be able to invoice our first customer for the first automation system we were delivering. This was the start… And from there we took quite a big step the year after when we combined computer vision and easy-to-stop lab automation to become the core elements of a self-driving lab robot. The idea was to build a robot that autonomously moves within a laboratory from one instrument to another instead of placing all the devices around a robotic arm. We then set-up small interest groups, basically groups of potentially interested customers who could then talk to each other and plan the next step together instead of every single customer having to take a leap of faith and see what happens. This was quite successful and we started a collaboration with Roche in the beginning of 2019 to begin building our first self-driving robot which could find where the instruments are and where the plates are in the laboratory. This really reduced the threshold of getting started with lab automation…

In total, you had four of those autonomous lab robots built...

Yes, in the end of 2019 we finished this project up and we had robots delivered to Roche, Unilever, Novartis and Idorsia. At this moment we also realised that, except for the ‘high-throughput automation people’ who like to experiment with automation tools and try out new things…there wasn’t really a significant demand for this kind of robot! Although, when we presented the first robot at Roche there was a lot of interest. We filmed the pilot robot at Roche and the film got some 30’000 views! We also presented the robot at different conferences in Europe and in the US, and it always attracted a lot of attention. But very little attention turned into sales.

... and in December 2019 suddenly the future did no longer look so bright. What happened?

Exactly. We had invested a lot in product development for the self-driving robot and we had hired people to take this forward and ramp up the sales. And then, suddenly people were not buying this robot and we had to quickly come up with something new… And the money was running out because we were organically grown by that time and we had the customers’ money coming in and our initial investment that we had made. But it was not enough to actually get through the year 2019. In January 2020, we had not enough money to pay the salaries… That was really one of the most stressful times I have ever had! We started looking into how to take the next steps. We had to open all the doors. We informed our customers that we were having a difficult time because this product experiment was not working out, so we were asking if there was anything they would like us to work on in 2020, they should let us know. This would really help us get forward. We also were discussing with one of our collaborators who was actually interested in buying our company. And then, just by chance, on my way back to Basel from Boston, I received a LinkedIn message from a guy - I did not know he was an investor! - he just said: “Hey, I would like to know what you are working on”. I was really curious, and I met this guy at the airport. He was a really great guy who had experience in lab automation and, just two days before I flew back to Finland for Christmas, he decided to invest in UniteLabs, so I could sleep my nights over the Christmas holidays again… And, at the same time, Roche, one of our key customers, informed us that they would like to start a big project in 2020. We started working on it just before the pandemic hit Switzerland and many start-ups which are in immense trouble today, economically. But we are on a clear runway until the end of this year. We got incredibly lucky: from a very desperate situation in the end of 2019 we now have a very good set-up for the future.

This means, the economic lockdown during COVID-19, did not hit your company in any way?

So far not. We are working mainly on software for the instruments and robots and for the scientists. And, this you can do wherever you have a laptop. This is why we haven’t really experienced any hindrance in the way we work. We work remotely and we meet every day virtually and plan the work and get it done. We don’t need lab space, which would be a quite difficult situation right now. Of course, there are no more conferences and all the events have been cancelled, and people are more careful how they spend the money. This is also impacting our sales situation and we will see then how our sales will look like in the long-term. Right now we don’t feel the impact yet.

Two weeks ago we learnt from the D-BSSE startup deepCDR about the diversity of support available for startups. Do you receive (or have received) any federal or cantonal support (both financial & mentoring/training), and did you apply for the special COVID-funds available for startups?

We are in a Swiss coaching programme, which is supported by the government. And there we have received quite a lot of information and opportunities for start-ups to get through the COVID-crisis. We had taken a look: it is basically any bank that provides us a grant, interest-free, backed by the government. But the limitation here is that it is up to 10% of the previous year's revenue. So, if you are a start-up which is heavily investing into developing something new you don’t have existing revenue. In our case, we received a small loan. But apart from that we left the funds to those start-ups which are in real need for this support.

It seems like as a startup the planning phase is in the order of months. What is your personal lookout for the future?

Indeed, it is interesting when you pitch at competitions: they want to see a five-year plan! But, as a start-up you look at a much shorter perspective, and especially these days it is impossible to predict too far into the future. I am worried about the economical impact in mid-term, how that will influence start-ups in general and work opportunities. I really hope that as a start-up we continue to go forward and that the Pharma industry will not be hit as bad as other sectors. I am excited to develop more my personal skills and to grow my skills in the role as a leader. I started with the mind-set of a scientist and tried to build and do everything myself. But now we are already seven people in our team which is quite a lot more work to manage the team. So, I am trying to become a better manager, a better leader. Actually, tomorrow I am going to have my first-ever coaching session, I hired a leadership coach. I am hoping to further develop personally, no matter if this startup will fly… and if I really need it here or in an adventure in the future. I bet this will be a useful skill. I am also starting a peer-group for young or near-leaders. Many people end-up in a leadership position without having much to study or to learn in that kind of environment. Certainly, at university there is very little emphasis on leadership skills. These are some things that I best learned by practicing and doing myself, and by learning from others who are doing this kind of job. The hope would be to form a small group of people in the same situation and to share and discuss our learnings and read articles written by those who actually built companies and have been in this kind of position in the past. This is something that kicked me off…and if there are people listening here who are interested in joining this initiative, please do so!

Voilà, I just provided the link to your external pageLinkedIn pagecall_made to the D-BSSE community which explains a little more what this initiative is about. So, people please get in touch with Oskari if you are interested in building your leadership skills or learning about leadership in general.


Many many thanks, Oskari, we keep our fingers crossed for you and UniteLabs for a bright future!