The automation company betting that labs & chip fabs run on the same thing - precision you can trust.
GALATEK, S.G. - The wordmark of a firm that installs its automation as carefully as it designs it; delivery centers now span Malaysia and the United States.
What Galatek does, and why it looks unusual on paper.
Galatek is a Singapore-based deep-tech company that builds AI-driven automation for two industries that rarely share a supplier: life-science laboratories and advanced semiconductor manufacturing. On paper the pairing looks strange. In practice, the company argues, both come down to the same discipline - precision, reproducibility, and data you can trust - and that shared foundation is what its robots, cameras, and software are built to deliver.
In the lab, that means machines that pipette, culture cells, image samples, and screen drug candidates without a scientist standing over them. In the fab, it means vision systems that inspect wafers, measure overlay, and dice chips at micro-nanometer accuracy. The connective tissue is software: a platform called Abio that ties the lab's records to its robots, and a machine-vision engine, InteVega, that Galatek points at both a cell image and a silicon defect.
The company was founded in 2025 and is led by CEO David Tian. In December 2025 it announced roughly US$30 million in Series A funding - money earmarked not just for product development but for the unglamorous work of installing and servicing automation close to customers, with delivery centers in markets including Malaysia and the United States.
Galatek describes itself less as a gadget vendor and more as an infrastructure partner. Its stated mission is to help scientists and engineers accelerate innovation through flexible automation built around real-world workflows - the messy, repetitive middle of the work, where mistakes are expensive and consistency is the whole point.
"Galatek's mission is to be a reliable infrastructure partner in this transformation." - David Tian, CEO
The bottlenecks Galatek is built to remove.
Hardware and software, sold together, for labs and fabs.
An integrated, cloud-agnostic platform that unifies ELN, LIMS and SDMS with automation - turning scientific data into action and wiring robots directly into lab records.
An AI machine-vision platform for object detection, intelligent analysis and high-resolution inspection - reused across cell imaging and semiconductor QC.
Multi-channel automated dispensing and pipetting workstations for high-throughput lab workflows.
Automated cell passaging, 3D organoid culture, cryopreservation and biological sample processing.
Multi-modal, high-content cell imaging supporting 3D disease models and intelligent analysis.
Automated high-throughput drug screening and susceptibility testing for pharma and biotech R&D.
Mobile robots that shuttle samples and consumables between integrated laboratory systems.
Overlay measurement and deep-learning automatic optical inspection for advanced packaging.
Precision blade and laser dicing, wafer breaking and laser grooving for advanced packaging.
Reuse over reinvention, and service over shipping.
Most rivals specialize - Tecan, Hamilton and Beckman in lab automation; KLA and Onto in chip inspection. Galatek argues the same vision AI and motion control can serve both, so a capability built once earns its keep twice.
Abio's pitch is that automation only pays off when the data flows with it. By unifying ELN, LIMS and SDMS and plugging robots straight in, Galatek sells an integrated smart lab rather than a shelf of instruments.
Its "Global Supply Chain + Localized Service" model combines Asian manufacturing with company-owned delivery centers in markets like Malaysia and the US - a bet that installation and support are the real moat.
Abio runs without committing a lab to a single cloud vendor - a practical detail for research institutions wary of lock-in.
The best infrastructure is invisible. Galatek wants to be the layer under the lab and the fab - the part that just works.
B2B, sold to the people who cannot afford to be imprecise.
Galatek's customers are research institutions, pharmaceutical and biotech firms, and semiconductor manufacturers - buyers for whom reproducibility and data integrity are non-negotiable. In life sciences, the company reports more than 34 million automated sample-processing runs, a number it frames as a reliability claim rather than a marketing flourish.
It sits in two large, established markets. Lab automation is dominated by incumbents like Tecan, Hamilton, Beckman Coulter and software players such as Benchling; semiconductor metrology and inspection is led by KLA, Onto Innovation and, in dicing, DISCO. Galatek's wager is that a newer, AI-native stack that spans both can win share where the workflow - not the brand - decides the outcome.
Geographically, the Series A is aimed at Europe, North America and Southeast Asia, with teams reported across the US, Europe and its Singapore home base. The company has also leaned on academic proof points, co-creating next-generation smart labs with the National University of Singapore before raising its round.
"The global industry is undergoing a fundamental transformation, driven by artificial intelligence and automation."
David Tian · Founder & CEO, Galatek
From founding to first raise in a single year.
David Tian launches the company to build AI-driven automation for life sciences and semiconductor manufacturing.
Galatek partners with the National University of Singapore to build next-generation smart laboratories.
Funding earmarked for product development, supply chain, and local teams across Europe, North America and Southeast Asia.
The small things that explain the strategy.
Galatek builds AI-driven automation for two sectors: life-science smart labs (robotics, liquid handling, imaging and its Abio software) and advanced semiconductor manufacturing (vision AI, metrology, inspection and wafer dicing).
It was founded by CEO David Tian and is headquartered in Singapore, with teams and delivery centers across Southeast Asia, Europe and North America.
Galatek announced approximately US$30 million in Series A funding in December 2025. The investors were not publicly disclosed.
Abio is Galatek's integrated, cloud-agnostic software that unifies the electronic lab notebook (ELN), LIMS and SDMS with lab automation, so scientific data and robots work together.
Research institutions, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and semiconductor manufacturers, including academic partners such as the National University of Singapore.
Official channels, coverage, and a link to pass along.
Note on figures: Galatek's website cites 1,000+ people and 320+ patents across its wider group; a third-party record lists ~27 employees for the Singapore entity. Series A investors and valuation were not publicly disclosed. Figures marked "~" are approximate. Video interviews and product demos were not publicly available at publication - check the company's website and LinkedIn for updates.