CELLECT Laboratories Inc.
Non-invasive women's health diagnostics using menstrual fluid for HPV and cervical cancer screening.
Website: https://femtech.ca/company/cellect-laboratories-inc/
Cover Block
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| Name | CELLECT Laboratories Inc. |
| Tagline | Non-invasive women's health diagnostics using menstrual fluid for HPV and cervical cancer screening. |
| Headquarters | Waterloo, Canada |
| Founded | 2024 |
| Stage | Pre-Seed |
| Business Model | B2B2C |
| Industry | Healthtech |
| Technology | Biotech / Life Sciences |
| Geography | North America |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Co-Founders (2) |
| Funding Label | Pre-seed (total disclosed ~$36,700) |
Links
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- Website: https://cellectlaboratories.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cellectlaboratories
Executive Summary
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CELLECT Laboratories is developing a non-invasive diagnostic platform that uses menstrual fluid for HPV and cervical cancer screening, a technical approach that could meaningfully increase participation in a critical preventive health service [The Forge]. Founded in 2024 by Emily De Souza and Ibukun Elebute, the company emerged from the University of Waterloo ecosystem to address a clear access gap in cervical cancer screening [The Star, Jul 2024]. Its proprietary wedge is a nanomaterial collection device designed to capture and stabilize cervical cells from used menstrual products, enabling a mail-in test that bypasses the need for a clinical pelvic exam [Velocity Incubator].
The founding team, led by CEO De Souza, has secured early validation through multiple Canadian university incubators and non-dilutive grant competitions, with disclosed funding totaling approximately $91,700 from sources like the Velocity $50K Fund and The Forum [CBC News, May 2025] [CBC, Nov 2023]. The business model is B2B2C, aiming to integrate its sample processing with existing clinical laboratory networks rather than building its own lab infrastructure [The Forge]. Over the next 12-18 months, the key milestones to watch are the initiation of formal pilot studies with healthcare partners, progress on regulatory pathways for its collection device, and the transition from grant funding to a priced equity round to finance commercial scaling.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core product claims and grant funding are confirmed by multiple incubator and news sources; team details and business model are partially corroborated.
Taxonomy Snapshot
| Axis | Classification |
|---|---|
| Stage | Pre-Seed |
| Business Model | B2B2C |
| Industry / Vertical | Healthtech |
| Technology Type | Biotech / Life Sciences |
| Geography | North America (Canada) |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Co-Founders (2) |
Company Overview
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CELLECT Laboratories Inc. was founded in 2024 as a Canadian health-technology startup based in Waterloo, Ontario, with a mission to make critical cervical cancer screening more accessible [The Star, Jul 2024]. The company's origin is tied to founder Emily De Souza's vision of using a routinely available biological sample, menstrual fluid, to create a non-invasive alternative to the traditional Pap test, which requires a clinic visit and a speculum exam [CBC News].
The company's early development has been supported by a series of Canadian university incubators and non-dilutive grants. Key milestones include winning the University of Waterloo's Velocity $50,000 pitch competition in November 2023, which provided initial capital for technology development [CBC, Nov 2023]. In 2024, CELLECT was accepted into incubator programs at McMaster University's The Forge and the University of Toronto's entrepreneurship hub, gaining access to mentorship and lab space [The Forge] [University of Toronto Entrepreneurship]. More recently, the company secured a CAD $40,000 grant from The Forum in May 2025 and a CAD $15,000 prize from the Synapse Life Science Competition in April 2025 [CBC News, May 2025] [Health Innovation Hub (H2i) @ U of T, Apr 2025]. The company maintains a public waitlist for its product launch [CBC News].
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Founding details and grant awards are confirmed by multiple independent media and university sources.
Product and Technology
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The company's core innovation is a diagnostic platform that uses menstrual fluid as a sample source for cervical cancer screening, a material the company describes as a routinely available but historically overlooked biological resource [The Forge]. The proprietary component is a nanomaterial designed to be embedded in standard menstrual products like pads or tampons, which captures and stabilizes cervical cells and DNA for transport to a lab [Velocity Incubator]. This approach is intended to replace the need for a pelvic exam and speculum, positioning the test as a non-invasive, mail-in alternative to the traditional Pap smear [CBC News].
On the processing side, the company states its lab techniques are identical to those used in standard HPV tests, allowing for the differentiation between high-risk and low-risk viral strains [cellectlaboratories.com, Retrieved 2026]. The platform is designed to integrate with existing clinical laboratory workflows, suggesting a B2B2C model where the company provides the collection device and potentially the assay, while partner labs handle the testing and reporting [The Forge]. The website currently hosts a waitlist for product launch, indicating a pre-commercial stage focused on validation and pilot readiness [CBC].
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Product claims are consistently reported across multiple incubator and media sources, and the company's own website provides technical details on sample processing.
Market Research
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The addressable market for cervical cancer screening is defined by a persistent gap between recommended care and actual participation, a structural inefficiency that creates a durable opening for new access models.
Third-party market sizing for the specific niche of non-invasive, menstrual-fluid-based diagnostics is not yet available. The broader cervical cancer screening market, however, provides a relevant analog. A 2023 report from Grand View Research valued the global Pap test and HPV testing market at $8.1 billion, projecting a compound annual growth rate of 6.8% through 2030 [Grand View Research, 2023]. The North American segment represents a significant portion of this total. CELLECT's initial serviceable market would be a subset of this: individuals in Canada and the U.S. who are eligible for screening but are under-screened due to access barriers, discomfort, or geographic remoteness.
Demand is driven by clear clinical and social tailwinds. Cervical cancer is highly preventable with regular screening, yet public health data consistently shows participation gaps, particularly among rural, low-income, and marginalized communities [Canadian Cancer Society]. The discomfort and logistical burden of the traditional speculum-based Pap test is a well-documented barrier. Concurrently, a shift toward primary HPV testing as the preferred screening method, endorsed by guidelines in both the U.S. and Canada, creates a technological tailwind for any sample collection method that can yield viable DNA for PCR analysis [American Cancer Society, 2020].
Adjacent and substitute markets reveal the platform's potential expansion path. The core sample collection technology, if validated, could be applied to diagnostics for other gynecological conditions where tissue sampling is a barrier. These include endometriosis, which often requires laparoscopic surgery for definitive diagnosis, and certain sexually transmitted infections (STIs) [The Forum]. The primary substitute market remains the entrenched standard of care: in-clinic collection by a healthcare provider. Market adoption, therefore, depends not on displacing lab analysis, but on displacing the point of sample collection, competing on convenience and patient experience rather than diagnostic accuracy alone.
Regulatory pathways and reimbursement structures are the dominant macro forces. In Canada, Health Canada approval as a Class II or III medical device would be required for the collection kit. Subsequent adoption hinges on provincial health plans (e.g., Ontario Health Insurance Plan) agreeing to reimburse the test, or on private insurers adding it to their plans. The company's stated design to integrate with existing laboratory workflows is a strategic nod to this reality, aiming to fit into the current diagnostic and billing infrastructure rather than attempting to rebuild it [The Forge].
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Global Cervical Cancer Screening Market (Analogous) | 8.1 $B |
| Projected CAGR through 2030 | 6.8 % |
The projected steady growth of the core screening market underscores its stability, but the real opportunity lies in capturing the unmet demand within it. The company's market entry thesis is less about growing the total number of tests performed and more about changing who performs the sample collection, thereby capturing a segment of the market that is currently missed.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Market sizing is drawn from an analogous, broader industry report. Specific TAM for the company's niche is not publicly quantified.
Competitive Landscape
MIXED CELLECT Laboratories enters a market defined by efforts to modernize and democratize women's health diagnostics, where its primary competition comes not from traditional Pap tests, but from a growing cohort of startups developing alternative sample collection methods.
| Company | Positioning | Stage / Funding | Notable Differentiator | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CELLECT Laboratories | Non-invasive HPV/cervical cancer screening via proprietary nanomaterial in menstrual products. | Pre-seed; ~$36.7k in disclosed grants/prizes. | Uses menstrual fluid as a routine, at-home sample; aims to integrate with existing clinical lab workflows. | [Velocity Incubator] [The Forge] |
| Daye | At-home vaginal microbiome and STI testing via tampon-based collection. | Venture-backed; raised $10M Series A in 2021. | Commercialized tampon-based diagnostic platform; operates a certified clinical lab in the UK. | [Crunchbase, 2021] |
| NextGen Jane | Menstrual blood-based diagnostics for endometriosis and reproductive health. | Venture-backed; raised ~$9M as of 2021. | Focuses on genomic and transcriptomic analysis of menstrual effluent for multiple conditions. | [Crunchbase, 2021] |
| Qvin | Women's health diagnostics using menstrual blood, starting with HbA1c for diabetes. | Venture-backed; raised $10M Series A in 2023. | Aims to use menstrual blood as a general biofluid for a range of diagnostic tests beyond gynecology. | [Crunchbase, 2023] |
Competition operates across three distinct layers. The first is the entrenched incumbent standard: the in-clinic Pap smear and HPV test, administered by healthcare providers and processed by large commercial laboratories like Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp. This system benefits from universal insurance reimbursement and established clinical guidelines but is defined by the access barriers CELLECT aims to overcome. The second layer consists of direct challengers developing novel, at-home collection methods. These include the companies in the table, as well as others like Joii (cervical self-sampling swabs) and Emm (vaginal microbiome testing), all competing to become the new standard for convenient, patient-controlled screening. The third, adjacent layer includes companies leveraging other biofluids for women's health, such as those analyzing blood or saliva, though these often target different conditions or serve as complementary, not substitute, pathways.
CELLECT's current, pre-commercial edge is narrowly technical and conceptual. Its proprietary nanomaterial, designed to capture and stabilize cervical cells from menstrual fluid, represents a specific engineering solution to a known sample-quality challenge [Velocity Incubator]. This focus on menstrual products as the collection vehicle, rather than vaginal swabs or blood, is its primary wedge. The durability of this edge is entirely perishable, contingent on securing robust intellectual property protection and, more critically, demonstrating clinical validity that matches or exceeds the sensitivity and specificity of swab-based self-sampling methods. Without peer-reviewed data, the technical claim remains an early-stage advantage.
The company's most significant exposure is its late start in a segment where several competitors have already commercialized products and secured venture-scale funding. Daye, for instance, has an operational lab and a commercial product in market, giving it a multi-year lead in regulatory experience, manufacturing, and user acquisition [Crunchbase, 2021]. NextGen Jane has published early research on its platform, building a foundation of clinical evidence [Crunchbase, 2021]. CELLECT's reliance on grant funding and incubator support, while validating, also signals a capital disadvantage compared to venture-backed peers who can invest more aggressively in R&D, clinical trials, and sales. Furthermore, its B2B2C model targeting lab integration creates a complex, sales-heavy go-to-market motion that other DTC-focused competitors may avoid.
The most plausible 18-month scenario sees the market segment for at-home gynecological sampling continuing to expand, with multiple players finding niche applications. The winner in this period will likely be the company that first publishes a large-scale, peer-reviewed clinical study demonstrating non-inferiority to the standard of care for primary HPV screening, thereby unlocking insurance reimbursement discussions. The loser will be any player that fails to transition from prototype and pilot rhetoric to a deployable, regulated product with a clear path to reimbursement. For CELLECT, the next phase is less about beating a single named competitor and more about executing the translational science and partnership development required to move from a promising academic concept to a clinically and commercially viable diagnostic.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitor funding and stage data sourced from Crunchbase; subject positioning confirmed by incubator sources. Clinical and commercial claims from competitors are not independently verified.
Opportunity
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For a company still in the grant-funded stage, the prize is a fundamental shift in how a critical, global public health service is delivered, moving cervical cancer screening from a clinical procedure to a routine at-home test.
The headline opportunity is to become the standard for non-invasive cervical cancer screening in high-income countries and a primary tool for expanding coverage in underserved regions. The evidence that makes this reachable, rather than purely aspirational, is the company's focus on integration with existing clinical laboratory workflows. By designing its platform to use the same lab processing techniques as standard HPV tests, CELLECT is not attempting to rebuild the entire diagnostic infrastructure [cellectlaboratories.com, Retrieved 2026]. Instead, it aims to insert its proprietary collection device at the front end of a proven, regulated system. This lowers the technical and regulatory barriers to adoption, positioning the company as a new sample-acquisition channel for established labs rather than a disruptive replacement. If successful, it could define a new category of menstrual-fluid-based diagnostics, moving beyond HPV to other conditions like endometriosis and STIs, as the company's own roadmap suggests [The Forum, Retrieved 2026].
Multiple paths exist for the company to scale from a pilot project to a category-defining platform. The following scenarios outline concrete, high-impact growth trajectories.
| Scenario | What happens | Catalyst | Why it's plausible |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Health Partnership | A provincial or national health system adopts the test as a covered option for remote or hesitant populations, driving volume through a single contract. | A successful pilot study with a public health agency or a large regional lab. | The company explicitly targets boosting screening participation among marginalized and remote communities, a key goal for public health bodies [CanadianSME] [CBC]. |
| Laboratory Network Rollout | The company partners with a major national laboratory chain (e.g., LifeLabs, Dynacare in Canada), becoming their exclusive at-home collection method for cervical screening. | Securing a design partnership with a lab to validate the collection device in their workflow. | The platform's design for integration with existing labs is a core, cited part of its strategy [The Forge] [Velocity Incubator]. |
| Platform Expansion | After validating the HPV test, the company rapidly launches tests for other gynecological conditions (endometriosis, STIs) using the same collection method, creating a multi-diagnostic suite. | Regulatory approval for the initial HPV test, proving the sample type and platform. | Company materials and incubator profiles consistently mention endometriosis and STI diagnostics as the logical next applications [innovationfactory.ca] [The Forum, Retrieved 2026]. |
Compounding success for CELLECT would look like a classic data and distribution flywheel, though it remains in early stages. Initial adoption by a lab network generates real-world validation data on sample stability, user compliance, and test accuracy across diverse populations. This data strengthens the regulatory dossier for the initial test and de-risks the development of subsequent tests on the same platform. Each new diagnostic application increases the value of the proprietary collection device to both labs and consumers, creating a multi-product suite from a single user action. While there is no public evidence this flywheel is yet in motion, the company's reported waitlist suggests initial consumer interest that could provide early traction signals [CBC].
The size of the win, should a major scenario play out, can be framed by looking at a comparable. Daye, a UK-based startup offering a vaginal health test and tampon-based STI screening, raised a $10 million Series A in 2023 [TechCrunch, 2023]. While not a direct competitor in sample type, it operates in the adjacent femtech diagnostics space with a similar at-home collection model. A successful execution of the Laboratory Network Rollout or Public Health Partnership scenario, establishing CELLECT as a credentialed screening option in a major market, could support a valuation significantly exceeding that early-stage benchmark, reflecting the larger addressable population for a cervical cancer screening product. This represents the potential outcome of a specific growth path, not a financial forecast.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Opportunity scenarios are extrapolated from cited company strategy and market logic; comparable valuation is from a public peer.
Sources
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[The Forge] CELLECT Laboratories Inc. | https://theforge.mcmaster.ca/startups/cellect/
[The Star, Jul 2024] To close a key gap in women’s health, this Waterloo startup is turning to an unlikely source | https://www.thestar.com/business/mars/to-close-a-key-gap-in-women-s-health-this-waterloo-startup-is-turning-to/article_16f87322-fac4-11ef-9365-bf6cff1fbdf0.html
[CBC, Nov 2023] This Waterloo startup is developing a non-invasive way to screen for cervical cancer | https://www.cbc.ca/lite/story/1.7528762?feature=random
[Velocity Incubator] CELLECT transforms cervical cancer diagnosis with nanotechnology | https://www.velocityincubator.com/news/cellect-transforms-cervical-cancer-diagnosis-with-nanotechnology
[University of Toronto Entrepreneurship] CELLECT Laboratories | https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/startup/cellect-laboratories/
[CBC News, May 2025] Waterloo startup wins money for invention that is a 'shift' for women's health | CBC News | https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/waterloo-startup-wins-money-for-invention-that-is-a-shift-for-women-s-health-1.7528762
[Health Innovation Hub (H2i) @ U of T, Apr 2025] Synapse Life Science Competition | https://h2i.utoronto.ca/synapse-life-science-competition/
[cellectlaboratories.com, Retrieved 2026] CELLECT Laboratories Website | https://cellectlaboratories.com
[Grand View Research, 2023] Pap Test and HPV Testing Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report | https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/pap-test-hpv-testing-market
[Canadian Cancer Society] Cervical Cancer Screening | https://cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-types/cervical/screening
[American Cancer Society, 2020] American Cancer Society Guideline for Cervical Cancer Screening | https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/cervical-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/cervical-cancer-screening-guidelines.html
[The Forum, Retrieved 2026] Get to Know the 2024/25 Finalists , Shari van de Pol of CATTLEytics, Ibukun Elebute of CELLECT Laboratories, and Lianna Genovese of ImaginAble Solutions | https://www.theforum.ca/article/get-to-know-the-2024/25-finalists
[CanadianSME] Rethinking Reproductive Health Screening | https://canadiansme.ca/rethinking-reproductive-health-screening/
[Crunchbase, 2021] Daye Funding | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/daye
[Crunchbase, 2021] NextGen Jane Funding | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/nextgen-jane
[Crunchbase, 2023] Qvin Funding | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/qvin
[innovationfactory.ca] CELLECT Laboratories Inc. | https://innovationfactory.ca/clients/cellect-laboratories-inc/
[TechCrunch, 2023] Daye raises $10M Series A | https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/31/daye-series-a/
Articles about CELLECT Laboratories Inc.
- CELLECT Laboratories's Nanomaterial Pad Aims to Replace the Speculum for Cervical Cancer Screening — The Waterloo startup is using menstrual fluid and a proprietary collection device to build a mail-in HPV test, backed by university incubators and early grant funding.