Astek Diagnostics Pitch Deck Teardown (2023)

See all 22 slides of the Astek Diagnostics pitch deck — a 2023 Seed deck — with a slide-by-slide teardown of what the deck does well and where it falls short.

Astek Diagnostics' 2023 pitch deck is a highly technical, data-driven presentation that successfully navigated the complex Seed-stage healthcare landscape. By focusing on a massive, underserved problem—Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and the rise of antimicrobial resistance—the company established immediate clinical relevance. The deck excels by showcasing tangible progress, including a 96.97% accuracy rate in clinical pilots and a clear roadmap for expanding from urine samples to blood and CSF. With $1.4M in grants and $2.6M in prior investment already secured at the time of the deck, Astek…

Key takeaways

Executive Summary and Vision

Slides 1-3: The Mission and the Platform

Astek Diagnostics opens with a clear, human-centric cover slide featuring the tagline "Saving Lives Through Antibiotic Sensitivity Precision Diagnostics." This immediately establishes the company as a deep-tech healthcare play. Slide 2, titled "Grand Vision," sets a high-stakes roadmap. While the current focus is on urine-based testing (targeted for Q1 2025), the company plans to expand into CSF (2026), Effluent (2027), and Blood (2028). This is a critical slide for Seed investors because it demonstrates that while the initial entry point is narrow (UTIs), the platform is "Universal" (Slide 3) and has a massive Total Addressable Market (TAM).

Slides 4-5: The Comprehensive Approach

These slides provide the technical 'proof of life' for the expansion mentioned in the vision. For the urine-based test, they cite 408 tests completed with 97% accuracy at the MedStar Health pilot. For the other fluids, they cite specific grant-funded proof-of-concept data: 12 samples for CSF (Henry Jackson Foundation), 12 for Effluent (pending DOD contract), and 59 ICU patients for blood (NSF SBIR Phase 1 grant). By tying each fluid type to a specific pilot or grant, Astek de-risks the future roadmap.

The Problem and Market Opportunity

Slides 6-7: The UTI Problem and Antimicrobial Resistance

Astek presents a compelling case for why their solution is needed now . They cite 8.1 million UTI-caused hospital visits per year in the US and a staggering 47% rate of inappropriate antibiotic treatment. The most effective data point here is the "72h" test processing time for current cultures versus their 1-hour promise. Slide 7 connects this to the broader global crisis of "Super Bugs," noting that the economic cost of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the US is approximately $55 billion per year. This shifts the narrative from 'better diagnostic' to 'essential infrastructure for public health.'

The Solution and Technology

Slides 8-11: The Jiddu System

Slide 8 introduces the hardware: the Jiddu system . It highlights four key value propositions: 1-hour results, point-of-care testing, ease of use (automated with disposable cartridges), and cost-effectiveness. The pricing is explicitly stated: "$10K as a one-time device purchase" and "$50 per test cartridge." This transparency is rare in Seed decks and helps investors model the revenue potential immediately.

Slides 9 and 10 walk through the mechanics: placing the sample in a microfluidic cartridge, automated filtering, 35-minute cultivation, and final detection. Slide 11 explains the underlying science: Metabolic Activity Detection . A bar chart shows that while a sample has high metabolic activity, the introduction of effective antibiotics (like Cephalexin) causes that activity to drop to near zero. This visualizes the 'aha' moment of the technology—if the bacteria stop 'breathing,' the drug is working.

Team and Advisory Board

Slides 12-13: Deep Domain Expertise

The team slide (Slide 12) features 9 members, led by CEO Mustafa Al-Adhami. The presence of a dedicated Microbiologist, Bioengineer, and Computer Scientist suggests a balanced technical team. However, Slide 13 is the real 'heavy lifter.' The Advisory Board includes 10 MDs and PhDs from prestigious institutions like Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, and Harvard. They are categorized by specialty (Urology, Intensive Care, Regulatory Affairs), which signals to investors that the company has the necessary clinical and regulatory guidance to navigate the FDA.

Validation and Intellectual Property

Slides 14-16: Proving the Concept

Slide 14, "Technology Validation," is perhaps the most important slide in the deck. It shows a clear progression of accuracy: 82.00% in the first UMB pilot, rising to 95.60% in the second, and reaching 96.97% in the MedStar pilot. This 'up and to the right' data on accuracy is the ultimate de-risking mechanism for a diagnostic company. Slide 15 details the IP Overview , listing one issued patent for the test algorithm and three pending disclosures for the cartridge and reagents. Slide 16 summarizes the company's momentum: $1.4M in scientific grants, $2.6M from investors (including Y Combinator and Wexford Science + Technology), and a pipeline of 10 pilot partners.

The Investment Case

Slides 17-21: Timeline, Terms, and Exit

Slide 17 provides a timeline through 2025, with a clear goal of FDA Clearance by April 2025 . Slide 18, "Investment Terms," uses placeholders ($XXM) for the current round but specifies the instrument: convertible notes . It also mentions a 33% tax refund for investors via the Biotechnology Investment Incentive Tax Credit (BIITC), a clever 'sweetener' for the deal. Slide 19 explicitly discusses the Exit Strategy , naming potential acquirers like BioMerieux and Qiagen. Slide 20 backs this up with Comparable Transactions , showing that similar companies have been acquired for multiples as high as 59.5x revenue. The deck concludes with an Executive Summary (Slide 21) that reiterates their 95%+ accuracy and their need for funding to complete clinical trials.

What Works and What is Missing

What Works

Data Transparency: The inclusion of specific accuracy percentages from named hospital pilots is incredibly persuasive. · Clear Business Model: The $10k/$50 split makes the path to revenue easy to understand. · Regulatory Roadmap: Tying the exit strategy to the April 2025 FDA clearance date gives investors a clear 'liquidity event' horizon. · Advisory Depth: The 10-person advisory board covers every possible clinical and regulatory hurdle.

What is Missing

Unit Economics: While we see the price ($50/cartridge), we don't see the COGS (Cost of Goods Sold). Investors would want to know the gross margin on those disposables. · Competitive Landscape: The deck mentions 'current testing' is slow, but it doesn't name specific competitors in the rapid diagnostic space (e.g., T2 Biosystems or Accelerate Diagnostics). · Detailed Use of Funds: Slide 21 says the funds are to "finalize platform development," but a more granular breakdown of spend (R&D vs. Clinical Trials vs. G&A) is missing.

Founder Takeaways

1. De-risk with Data: If you are in a technical field, don't just say your product works—show the progression of it working. Astek's slide showing accuracy moving from 82% to 97% tells a story of engineering discipline. 2. Align with Incentives: Mentioning the BIITC tax credit shows that the founders are thinking about the investor's bottom line from day one. 3. The Platform Narrative: Start with a narrow, solvable problem (UTIs) but show a clear technical path to a much larger market (Blood/Sepsis). This provides the 'safety' of a niche and the 'upside' of a giant.

Frequently asked questions

What is the primary problem Astek Diagnostics is solving?
Astek focuses on the 'UTI Problem,' where current testing takes 24-72 hours and is often inaccurate. This leads to 47% of patients receiving inappropriate antibiotics, fueling the rise of 'Super Bugs' and costing the US healthcare system billions. Their Jiddu system aims to provide results in just one hour, allowing for immediate, precise treatment.
How does the Jiddu system work technically?
The system uses metabolic activity detection. It captures bacteria from a sample via a microfluidic cartridge, cultivates it for 35 minutes in a conductive media with specific antibiotics, and then measures metabolic activity. A decline in activity indicates the antibiotic is effective, while high activity suggests infection presence.
What is the company's current stage of clinical validation?
As of the deck's publication, Astek had completed 408 tests. They successfully finished a pilot with the University of Maryland Medical Center and were in the midst of an ongoing pilot with MedStar Health, where they achieved 96.97% accuracy. A third pilot with Johns Hopkins was listed as pending for 2024.
What is the revenue model for the hardware?
Astek employs a 'razor and blade' strategy. They charge a $10,000 one-time fee for the Jiddu device and generate recurring revenue through $50 disposable test cartridges. This model is designed to be cost-effective for hospitals while providing predictable cash flow for the company.
What is the expected timeline for an investor exit?
The deck explicitly states that the company has already been approached by strategic investors like BioMerieux and BD. They anticipate becoming a prime acquisition target upon FDA clearance in April 2025, with a potential buyout occurring as early as the first quarter of that year.
Cover slide of the Astek Diagnostics pitch deck — Seed 2023
Astek Diagnostics pitch deck, slide 1 (2023)

Astek Diagnostics pitch deck: the facts

Company
Astek Diagnostics
Year
2023
Stage
Seed
Slides
22
Sector
Healthcare

Astek Diagnostics pitch deck PDF

The full Astek Diagnostics deck is embedded on this page and can be read slide by slide in the browser — no download or account required. Each slide is covered in the breakdown above.

What the Astek Diagnostics pitch deck was used for

This is Astek Diagnostics’ seed-stage pitch deck from 2023 for its Jiddu system, a benchtop diagnostic platform that confirms bacterial infections and assesses antibiotic sensitivity within about one hour using disposable microfluidic cartridges. The deck focuses on commercializing a urine-based test for urinary tract infections (UTIs) as the first application, with a longer-term vision to expand to cerebrospinal fluid, effluent, and blood. In 2023 Astek closed a $2M seed round to advance development and commercialization of the Jiddu UTI device and fund multiple clinical studies, using this deck (or a close variant) in that process. The teardown analyzes how the deck combines clinical pilot data, grant-backed proof-of-concept work, and a clear regulatory and commercialization plan to persuade institutional seed investors.

Business model: Precision diagnostics company developing a benchtop analyzer and disposable cartridges (Jiddu platform) for rapid infection confirmation and antibiotic susceptibility testing, initially focused on urinary tract infections.

Round
Seed
Year
2023
Raised
$2M
Lead investor
Wexford SciTech Venture Fund
Investors
Wexford SciTech Venture Fund, Iyana Capital, Maryland Momentum Fund, TEDCO
Founders
Mustafa Al-Adhami
Headquarters
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Industry
Healthcare diagnostics / Medical devices

Use of funds as presented: Commercialize Astek’s urinary tract infection diagnostic device (Jiddu), including supporting multiple clinical studies to demonstrate effectiveness and move toward market launch.

What the Astek Diagnostics deck got right

What could have been stronger

How an investor would read this deck

What draws attention

Risks that stand out

Questions this deck invites

What founders can take from the Astek Diagnostics deck

Astek Diagnostics pitch deck: common questions

What does Astek Diagnostics do?

Astek Diagnostics is a Baltimore-based precision diagnostics company developing the Jiddu platform, a benchtop analyzer plus disposable cartridges designed to confirm bacterial infections and provide antibiotic sensitivity results within about one hour, initially focused on urinary tract infections (UTIs).

What is the main focus of Astek’s seed pitch deck?

The seed deck is built around the UTI use case, highlighting that Jiddu can detect UTIs and provide antibiotic susceptibility information in one hour, compared with 24–72 hours for standard urine cultures. It presents pilot data from a MedStar Health study, proof-of-concept work in CSF, effluent, and blood supported by grants, and a plan to use the seed funding to complete development, run clinical trials, and move toward commercialization.

How much did Astek raise in its seed round and who invested?

According to a 2023 funding announcement, Astek raised $2M in seed funding to commercialize its UTI diagnostic device. The round was led by the Wexford SciTech Venture Fund, with participation from Iyana Capital, the Maryland Momentum Fund, and TEDCO.

How does the Jiddu system work, based on the deck?

The deck describes Jiddu as a benchtop analyzer using specialized microfluidic cartridges: the sample is loaded into a disposable cartridge, bacteria are captured via an automated filtration process, then the sample is subdivided into channels with control and antibiotic-containing reagents, and within about 15 minutes the device can detect bacterial presence and generate antibiotic sensitivity results for pre-selected antibiotics. External materials similarly describe Jiddu as identifying bacterial infection in urine and performing antibiotic susceptibility testing within an hour.

What is the long-term vision for Jiddu beyond UTIs?

Later materials describe Astek as planning to bring the Jiddu Analyzer’s urine test to market around 2025, with a broader vision to support multiple sample types (urine, CSF, effluent, blood) over time. These timelines and expansions are forward-looking goals and not yet outcomes at the time of the 2023 seed deck.

Sources

Funding and outcome facts on this page were researched on 2026-08-21 from the pages below.

Astek Diagnostics pitch deck slides

Astek Diagnostics pitch deck slide 1 of 22
Astek Diagnostics pitch deck — slide 1 of 22
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Astek Diagnostics pitch deck — slide 2 of 22
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Astek Diagnostics pitch deck — slide 3 of 22
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Astek Diagnostics pitch deck — slide 4 of 22
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Astek Diagnostics pitch deck — slide 5 of 22
Astek Diagnostics pitch deck slide 6 of 22
Astek Diagnostics pitch deck — slide 6 of 22

What each slide of the Astek Diagnostics pitch deck says

Slide 2

oils Grand Vision Current Focus i Delivery Roadmap : Urine i CSF Effluent Blood g Q1 2025 2026 2027 2028 oe EXPECTED FDA APPROVAL TIMELINE .

Slide 3

Universal Platform While Astek Diagnostics has prioritized going to market first with a urine-based test, its vision is for the Jiddu system to confirm bacterial infections and assess antibiotic sensitivity across 4 sample types: urine, CSF, effluent, and blood. Hflfli Urine CSF Effluent Blood

Slide 4

Comprehensive Approach Urine > UTi confirmation and antibiotic sensitivity in 1 hour. » 408 urine-based tests already completed with increasingly high accuracy over time (c.97% accuracy level currently achieved: Medstar Health pilot). CSF » Meningitis confirmation and antibiotic sensitivity in 1 hour. » Proof of concept data with 12 samples has already been accumulated as part of an active grant from the Henry Jackson Foundation.

Slide 5

Comprehensive Approach (Cont'd) Effluent ] » Surgical site infection confirmation and antibiotic sensitivity in 1 hour. » Proof of concept data with 12 samples has already been accumulated in advance of ramping up work on this fluid as part of a pending DOD contract. Blood » Bacteremia confirmation and antibiotic sensitivity test in 1 hour. » Proof of concept data from a study involving 59 ICU patients has already been accumulated with the company as part of an active NSF SBIR Phase 1 grant.

Slide 6

Current Focus: The UTI Problem UTI-caused hospital visits per $168 of annual cost from mistreated UTis 0, 47% treated with inappropriate Empiric therapy causes antibiotic resistant 47% nbiotics® bactra to incrase by 300% parannum 25% 25% of sepsis cases 68,000 lives lost @ per annum in the US alone 0 arecaused by UTIs @ as a result of UTi-related sepsis cases 72h testprocessingforurine cultures takes 24-72 hrs Current testing is slow accuracy of dipstick 50% ool 0ot o e ey s 0 by L€ g e P o2 )Lk T e S

Slide 7

Current Focus: The UTI Problem & Mainly caused by ¥ Leadstotheemergence & The economic cost of overuse and misuse of new and more i AMRin the US alone is of antimicrobials resistant strains of estimated at c$55 bacteria billion per year Inadequate diagnostics * Improper antibiotic prescription '. Development of resistant strains & v serious complications like sepsis . —— Even harder infections + Inadequate diagnostics

Slide 8

The Solution: The Jiddu system HO) 1-Hour Results ¢ » Rapid UTI detection 7o » Antibiotic sensitivity indication ® Point-of-Care Testing + Actionable results » Expedited treatment Ease of Use » Basic trainin requirement » Automated testing & Disposable cartridges Cost effective ' > $10K as a one-time device purchase > $50 pertest cartridge (recurring revenue stream)

Slide 9

How it works [ i 1) Place the sample into the cartridge The sample s placed in a specialized microfluidic cartridge. The type of cartridge utilized varies with the sample type. Once attached, the cartridge is placed in the device and the automated testing process begins. 2 Bacteria from the sample is captured Through an automated fltering process, the bacteria is captured from the sample. Far the blood panel, this capturing process incorporates step to eliminate hemoglabin from lysed blood cells.

Slide 10

How it works (Cont'd) Cultivation and antibiotic testing The sampl ubdivided into multiple channe to be mixed wi control channels. Once divided a Detection of bacteria presence reagents before moving mber. After 15 minutes, the device can confirm via in the sample as well as provide sults for the pre-selected antibiotics.

Slide text above is read directly from the Astek Diagnostics deck PDF embedded on this page.

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