Sterratech

Sterratech sells automated liquid-handling workstations, bench-top pipetting robots, consumable tips and microplates, plus calibration & validation services. Hardware list prices run USD 8k–80k, placing the line between mid-range and premium versus million-dollar platforms or manual pipettes. All products are sold factory-direct through the sterratech.com configurator and regional sales engineers; no distributors or retail stores. The company positions itself as “compact automation for labs that thought they couldn’t afford it,” using modular linear-motor stages that ship as carry-on luggage and install in 30 min without compressed air. Every instrument is pre-loaded with an open-source Python API and a no-code tablet app, letting users switch between walk-up and fully scripted workflows in the same run. Its best-known line is the STX series (STX-200, -400, -800) that can pipette 96, 384 or 1,536 formats on a 60 cm bench. Customers are small- to medium-size biotechs, university core labs, and ag-genomics facilities that need CE-IVD or GLP compliance but lack capital-budget approval for large platforms. They value Sterratech’s 48-hour on-site service pledge, subscription leasing, and the ability to start with a single 96-channel head and add a second arm or plate hotel later as sample volumes grow. Sterratech competes against both high-end liquid-handling giants and low-cost Asian imports by offering 50 % lower entry price than the former while delivering English-language support, factory calibration certificates, and a three-year warranty that the latter typically omit.