The Bulgarian-British unified lab software platform is among the winners of the leading national competition for innovative technologies
Sofia, Bulgaria, May 29, 2026 — Lab Thread, a Bulgarian-British life sciences software company, has won the bronze award in the Innovision in Technology category at the INNOVISION Awards 2026, organized by Planet Schwarz — the creative space of Schwarz Digits Bulgaria. The recognition comes just one month after the platform’s official commercial launch.
An End to the Analog Era in Modern Science
While the world talks about artificial intelligence and personalized medicine, many of the laboratories developing the therapies of the future still rely on paper notebooks and Excel files to store their intellectual property. Lab Thread resolves this structural paradox through a platform that connects the entire research and development cycle into a single, seamless digital stream: from the in silico design of DNA sequences to automated results reporting. Manual data transfer is architecturally eliminated, along with the risk of human error.
Deyan Sultov, Co-founder and CTO of Lab Thread, said:
“Our mission is to transform scientific research from an analog craft into precise digital manufacturing. This award proves that data-driven evolution is not the exclusive domain of pharmaceutical giants, but an achievable standard for any innovative laboratory. It also shows that code written in Sofia can change science worldwide.”
The Bulgarian Engineering Footprint on the Global Market
Behind the platform is a Bulgarian engineering team — specialized developers and bioinformatics experts who design and build the product entirely in-house. The project secured a $1 million investment from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II through Mercia Ventures. Furthermore, the prestigious publication Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News named it a “Product to Watch” even before its market debut, and today Lab Thread competes within the Golden Triangle (Cambridge, Oxford, and London). The INNOVISION Awards 2026 is the company’s second accolade in the last two months — in early April, Lab Thread was named Startup of the Year at the Forbes Business Awards 2026.
The Real-World Impact of Lab Thread
The results from the platform’s Beta program, which was launched six months after securing investment, document a measurable impact across four key areas: a 55% reduction in licensing costs through software stack consolidation; 30% less administrative burden for scientists, freeing up time for actual research work; data transfer error risks reduced practically to zero, compared to an industry standard of 3%; in silico simulations that reduce failed physical experiments and the consumption of expensive reagents.
In sectors like oncology and gene therapies, where any delay carries a real human cost, Lab Thread is already shortening the journey from laboratory hypothesis to the clinical validation of new treatments.
