Vendor:Labforward GmbH

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Labforward GmbH
Type Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung
Industry Laboratory informatics
Predecessor labfolder GmbH and cubuslab GmbH
Headquarters Elsenstraße 106, Berlin, Germany
Number of locations 2
Area served Worldwide
Products
Website labforward.io
labfolder.com
labregister.com
laboperator.com
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/labforward/

Labforward GmbH develops and distributes laboratory informatics software solutions.

History

Labforward GmbH has its origins in two companies: labfolder GmbH and cubuslab GmbH. On July 1, 2012, start-up company labfolder GmbH made its first blog post, announcing its intentions. Led by biologists Simon Bungers and Florian Hauer as well as programmer Mathias Schäffner, the start-up aimed to address "the limits of paper-based laboratory notebooks such as loose data collections, scattered notes and limited search facilities at the lab bench" and "create a digital lab notebook that can be used as laboratory management software and collaboration platform for laboratory research."[1] The trio released an alpha version of its labfolder software for testing on October 3[2], followed by a beta version on February 20, 2013.[3] The product moved out of beta testing in May 2014 and was offered as a free basic package.[4]

In May 2019, labfolder and cubuslab GmbH, a laboratory automation integration business, announced they would be merging to form Labforward GmbH. The merger was reportedly born out of a 2017 half-joking conference discussion that led to a realization: "we worked together on so many projects that the tremendous advantages of the cooperation for both parties became obvious, and the initial joke became a serious opportunity."[5][6]

Awards

In April 2013, Labfolder received an award for being one of the top 10 best concepts at start2grow Competition 2013.[7]

Technology and products

Labfolder, Labregister, and Laboperator

Labfolder is a cloud-based electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) that helps researchers record their findings.[8] The product is available in a free basic edition for up to three users and an extended team version for larger research groups. The software can be installed on-site or hosted in the cloud.[9]

Labregister is a laboratory information management system (LIMS) that "facilitates oversight of a lab’s entire inventory," allowing "scientists to follow each inventory item through its specific lifecycle and enables a direct connection to laboratory notes."[10]

Laboperator (formerly cubuslab[11]) is a hybrid hardware and software plug and play solution (marketed as a laboratory execution system [LES]) that allows labs to connect their lab instruments in a single platform, and "manage their laboratory remotely, whilst collecting and analyzing instrument data in real-time, significantly improving productivity and precision of research."[10]

Features

Product: Labfolder
Experiment, collaboration,
and data management
Chemical and/or mathematical drawing and calculation?
Chemical and/or spectrum file support?
Task and event scheduling?Y[9]
Option for manual result entry?
Multiple data viewing methods?
Data and trend analysis?
Data and equipment sharing?Y[9]
Customizable fields and/or interface?
Configurable templates and forms?Y[9]
Query capability?Y[9]
Import data?Y[9]
Internal file or data linking?
External file or data linking?
Export data to MS Excel?Y[9]
Raw data management?
Data warehouse?
Project and/or task management?
Inventory management?Y[9]
Document creation and/or management?Y[9]
Lab and/or group management?Y[9]
Experiment management?
Workflow management?Y[9]
Customer and supplier management?
Quality, security, and compliance
Regulatory compliance?Y[9]
QA / QC functions?
Performance evaluation?
Audit trail?Y[9]
Chain of custody?
Configurable roles and security?
Data normalization?
Data validation?
Data encryption?Y[9]
Electronic signatures?Y[9]
Version control?Y[9]
Automatic data backup?
Reporting, barcoding, and printing
Custom reporting?
Report printing?
Label support?
Barcode support?
Export to PDF?Y[9]
Export to MS Word?Y[9]
Export to HTML and/or XML?Y[9]
Email integration?Y[9]
Base functionality
Administrator management?Y[9]
Modular?
Instrument interfacing and management?
Mobile device integration?
Third-party software integration?Y[9]
Alarms and/or alerts?
External monitoring?
Messaging?Y[9]
Bookmarking?
Commenting?Y[9]
Multilingual?
Network-capable?Y[9]
Web client or portal?Y[9]
Online or integrated help?
Software as a service delivery model?Y[9]
Usage-based cost?
Industries served
industry-neutral
Product: Labregister
Sample, inventory, and data management
Sample login and management?
Sample tracking?Y[12]
Sample and/or result batching?
Task and event scheduling?
Option for manual result entry?Y[12]
Multiple data viewing methods?
Data and trend analysis?
Data and equipment sharing?
Customizable fields and/or interface?Y[12]
Query capability?Y[12]
Import data?Y[12]
Internal file or data linking?
External file or data linking?
ELN support or integration?Y[12]
Export data to MS Excel?Y[12]
Raw data management?Y[12]
Data warehouse?
Deadline control?
Production control?
Project and/or task management?
Inventory management?Y[12]
Document creation and/or management?Y[12]
Case management?
Workflow management?
Specification management?
Customer and supplier management?
Billing management?
Quality, security, and compliance
Regulatory compliance?
QA / QC functions?
Performance evaluation?
Audit trail?
Chain of custody?
Configurable roles and security?Y[12]
Data normalization?
Data validation?
Data encryption?Y[12]
Version control?Y[12]
Automatic data backup?
Environmental monitoring?
Reporting, barcoding, and printing
Custom reporting?
Report printing?
Label support?Y[12]
Barcode support?Y[12]
Export to PDF?
Export to MS Word?
Export to HTML and/or XML?
Fax integration?
Email integration?
Base functionality
Administrator management?Y[12]
Modular?
Instrument interfacing and management?Y[12]
Mobile device integration?
Alarms and/or alerts?
Work-related time tracking?
Voice recognition system?
External monitoring?
Messaging?
Multilingual?
Network-capable?
Web client or portal?
Online or integrated help?
Software as a service delivery model?
Usage-based cost?
Industries served
industry-neutral

Pricing

Per the company website, Labfolder pricing is as follows[13][14]:

Basic: Labfolder is free to individual researchers and research groups up to three in number, with up to 3GB of storage

Advanced: starting from €17 per user per month for academia, €52 per user per month for industry, with up to 300GB of storage

Service billed annually.

Per the company website, pricing for Labregister's Basic version is free, as part of Labfolder.[15] As of January 2023, the website states that Labregister Advanced has yet to be released.

Pricing for LabForward is not made public.

Demonstration videos and other media

Demonstration videos for Labfolder are available on the company's YouTube channel.

Additional information

References

  1. Havemann, Johanna (1 July 2012). "Another startup called labfolder". labfolder Blog. labfolder GmbH. https://www.labfolder.com/blog/labfolder-startup/. Retrieved 03 October 2019. 
  2. Bungers, Simon (3 October 2012). "alpha-release of the electronic lab notebook". labfolder Blog. labfolder GmbH. https://www.labfolder.com/blog/alpha-release-of-lab-notebook/. Retrieved 03 October 2019. 
  3. Bungers, Simon (20 February 2013). "labfolder proudly presents: The beta version of our digital labbook!". labfolder Blog. labfolder GmbH. https://www.labfolder.com/blog/beta-release-of-digital-labbook-labfolder/. Retrieved 03 October 2019. 
  4. Hauer, Florian (8 May 2014). "Beta testing and new features". labfolder Blog. labfolder GmbH. https://blog.labfolder.com/beta-testing/. Retrieved 03 October 2019. 
  5. "DGAP-News: labfolder acquires cubuslab and becomes Labforward". MarketWatch. 22 May 2019. https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/dgap-news-labfolder-acquires-cubuslab-and-becomes-labforward-2019-05-22. Retrieved 03 October 2019. 
  6. "Joining Forces: Accelerator Startup Alumni labfolder and cubuslab Are Merging!". Merck Innovation Center. Merck KGaA. 21 May 2019. https://www.emdgroup.com/en/research/innovation-center/news-and-events/all-news/joining-forces-accelerator-startup-alumni-labfolder-and-cubuslab.html. Retrieved 03 September 2019. 
  7. Hauer, Florian (9 April 2013). "labfolder among the winners of the start2grow competition!". labfolder Blog. labfolder GmbH. https://www.labfolder.com/blog/start2grow-competition-2013/. Retrieved 03 October 2019. 
  8. "Labfolder". Labforward GmbH. https://www.labfolder.com/. Retrieved 03 October 2019. 
  9. 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 9.11 9.12 9.13 9.14 9.15 9.16 9.17 9.18 9.19 9.20 9.21 9.22 9.23 9.24 9.25 9.26 "Features breakdown". Labforward GmbH. https://www.labfolder.com/features/. Retrieved 03 October 2019. 
  10. 10.0 10.1 "Labforward". Labforward GmbH. https://www.labforward.io/. Retrieved 17 January 2022. 
  11. "cubuslab". cubuslab GmbJ. Archived from the original on 22 October 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171022080806/https://www.cubuslab.com/en. Retrieved 17 January 2022. 
  12. 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13 12.14 12.15 12.16 "Features". Labforward GmbH. https://www.labregister.com/features/. Retrieved 17 January 2022. 
  13. "Academia pricing". Labforward GmbH. https://www.labfolder.com/pricing/academia/. Retrieved 03 October 2019. 
  14. "Industry pricing". Labforward GmbH. https://www.labfolder.com/pricing/industry/. Retrieved 03 October 2019. 
  15. "Labregister". Labforward GmbH. https://labregister.com/. Retrieved 24 January 2023.