Fortis Life Sciences

Who owns Fortis Life Sciences?

Fortis Life Sciences is currently owned by Summit Partners.

Hand-verified · updated 2026-04-21

About Fortis Life Sciences

Fortis Life Sciences is a United States life-science tools company, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, that develops and manufactures critical reagents and components for the diagnostics, therapeutics and research markets. Its portfolio spans antibodies, diagnostic components, molecular biology enzymes, engineered nanoparticles and viral vector platforms, operated through specialist brands including Bethyl Laboratories, nanoComposix, Empirical Bioscience, Arista Biologicals, Abcore, International Point of Care and Vector Biolabs. The company positions itself as a vertically integrated "Farm-to-Bench" supplier, controlling production from gram to kilogram scale across three ISO 13485 certified, GMP-compliant sites in North America. It serves biopharma, diagnostics and applied technology customers globally, combining the responsiveness of founder-led specialists with the scale and infrastructure of a consolidated platform.

Ownership journey

Fortis Life Sciences was founded in August 2020 in Waltham, Massachusetts, formed by a team of life-science industry veterans in collaboration with growth equity investor Summit Partners to address a gap in the fragmented life-science tools market. From inception the strategy was to build a platform by acquiring complementary, founder-led reagent and diagnostic-component businesses under a single operating umbrella. Summit Partners provided the growth capital that seeded the company and financed its early build-out, and the firm remains an active shareholder, with Fortis still listed as a current Summit Partners portfolio company. No exit or secondary transaction has been recorded.

Under PE ownership

Backed by Summit Partners' investment, Fortis executed a rapid buy-and-build program, integrating four complementary companies, Bethyl Laboratories, nanoComposix, Empirical Bioscience and Arista Biologicals, within roughly thirteen months of launch. The company subsequently expanded the platform further, acquiring San Diego-based single-domain antibody specialist Abcore, Toronto-based International Point of Care in July 2023, and viral vector manufacturer Vector Biolabs, while opening an international office in Seoul, South Korea. Management reported strong financial performance in 2021 and significantly scaled the group's commercial capabilities, with each acquired brand retaining its customer base while gaining access to shared manufacturing and R&D infrastructure. The business has since grown to roughly 223 employees, deepening its range across antibodies, diagnostic reagents and viral vector services.