Clinical Lab Equipment Financing for CLIA Startups and POLs

One Facility for the Whole Bench

Analyzers, centrifuges, hoods, microscopes, freezers, and your LIS financed together on a single schedule. No stacking six vendor loans, no piecing the buildout out over months while you wait on cash.

Open Sooner, Let Billing Pay It

Structured payments and 60 to 90 day deferrals let you install, validate, and start accessioning before the first note is due, so reimbursement is flowing by the time payments begin.

Startups and Reference Labs Both Fund

Brand-new CLIA entities, physician office labs, and expanding reference labs all have a path. We match the project to lenders who understand lab economics and CLIA and CAP timelines.

All Credit Profiles Considered

A first-year lab with a thin file or an owner with challenged credit still gets funded. With 500+ US lenders we shop the deal instead of running one bank and calling it.

A moderate to high-complexity clinical lab is a stack of instruments, and we finance the whole stack. On the chemistry side, practices choose systems like the Beckman Coulter AU480 or AU680, the Roche cobas c 311 or c 501, the Abbott Architect c4000, or a Siemens Atellica CH for metabolic panels, lipids, liver and renal function. Hematology usually means a Sysmex XN-series or Beckman Coulter DxH analyzer for CBCs. Add immunoassay for thyroid, vitamin D, and cardiac markers with a Roche cobas e 411 or Abbott Architect i1000SR, and coagulation for PT and INR.

Around the analyzers sits everything that makes the lab run: refrigerated centrifuges such as the Beckman Coulter Allegra X-30R or Thermo Sorvall ST 8, a Class II Type A2 biosafety cabinet from Thermo or Labconco, Olympus CX23 or Nikon Eclipse Ci microscopes, minus 20 and minus 80 freezers, a Milli-Q water system, incubators, pipettes, and a fume hood. For labs adding molecular, a Cepheid GeneXpert or BioFire FilmArray goes on the same facility. The LIS and EHR interface finish the picture. Whatever your validation plan and CLIA scope require, we structure it as one financed package.

Representative clinical lab deals we placed for US practices and pathology groups.

• $385,000, full startup bench, Dallas TX pathologist-owned lab. Beckman Coulter AU480 chemistry, Sysmex XN-550 hematology, Cepheid GeneXpert, refrigerated centrifuges, a biosafety cabinet, and the LIS. Under one year in operation, 730 owner credit. Approved at 6.24% APR over 72 months with 10 percent down and a 60-day deferral to clear CLIA validation. This is the single-facility buildout we lead with.
• $210,000, Roche cobas c 311 plus e 411, reference lab expansion, Houston TX. Five years in operation, 715 credit. Structured at 5.99% APR over 66 months, $0 down.
• $148,000, physician office lab, Abbott Architect c4000 with centrifuges and microscopes, Phoenix AZ. Three years in practice, 698 credit. 6.49% APR over 60 months with 5 percent down, application-only.
• $475,000, toxicology and molecular lab, Hologic Panther plus BioFire, Newark NJ. Two years in operation, 720 credit. 6.74% APR over 72 months with 15 percent down.

Every rate above reflects that file's credit and term. Qualified labs start from 5.49% APR after a soft review.

A clinical lab is a volume business, and the reason to own the bench instead of renting capacity is margin. Once your analyzers are validated, the marginal cost of a basic metabolic panel or CBC is a few dollars in reagent and controls, while payer reimbursement per accessioned test runs from a few dollars on routine chemistries to much more on molecular and specialty assays. A physician office lab that pulls send-out volume back in-house captures reimbursement it used to hand to a reference lab, and a reference lab that adds a chemistry line spreads fixed cost across more tests. Financing keeps your working capital free for reagents, staffing, and the CAP and proficiency-testing cost of getting certified.

The tax side compounds the benefit. Under Section 179, a lab can deduct the full cost of qualifying analyzers and lab equipment in the year they are placed in service, up to the annual cap, about $2.5 million in 2026, instead of depreciating over years. 100 percent bonus depreciation can apply on top for spend above the Section 179 limit, which matters on a $385,000 buildout. A lab in a 32 percent bracket can see six figures in first-year deductions while paying the equipment off over 72 months from testing revenue. Finance, deduct now, service the note with reimbursement. Confirm the exact numbers with your CPA, since caps and phase-outs shift year to year.

Brobas Capital Partners brokers medical and laboratory equipment across a network of more than 500 US lenders. That breadth is the point: a bank sees one lab, we see fifty funding sources with different appetites for startups, pre-revenue CLIA entities, and owners with challenged credit. We place your file with the one that fits.

For requests up to $150,000, funding is application-only, a one-page application and a soft credit look, usually with a same-day decision and no full financials. Larger lab projects above $150,000 typically ask for two years of returns, recent bank statements, and the equipment quote, still on a fast track. Approved funds go straight to your vendors, Beckman, Roche, Abbott, Sysmex, Thermo, so you can schedule delivery and install.

Structures are flexible: $0 down or modest down payments, 60 to 90 day deferred starts while you validate methods and finish certification, fair-market-value leases, and dollar-buyout agreements so you own the bench at term. Send us your buildout quote and target open date, and we will return a single-facility payment built from 5.49% APR for qualified labs. Rates are set after review and are never guaranteed.

What does it cost to finance a full CLIA lab buildout?

Turnkey benches generally run $100,000 to $500,000 depending on whether you add immunoassay, molecular, and a high-throughput chemistry line. Financed from 5.49% APR, a $385,000 project over 72 months lands near $6,300 a month for a qualified lab. Your rate depends on credit, time in operation, and structure.

Can new analyzers and refurbished units go on the same facility?

Yes. We routinely mix a new Roche or Beckman chemistry analyzer with refurbished centrifuges, microscopes, and freezers on one schedule. Blending new and certified-refurbished is often how a startup keeps the total in reach.

Do you finance the LIS, install, and validation?

We can wrap the laboratory information system, interfaces, installation, method validation support, and the first reagent and control stock into the amount financed, so your day-one cash outlay stays low.

We are pre-revenue and still finishing CLIA certification. Can we qualify?

Often yes. Several lenders in our network fund pre-revenue labs against the owner's credit and the project itself, frequently with a deferral so payments start after you are certified and testing. We will tell you honestly what the file supports.

What equipment counts as one project?

Chemistry and hematology analyzers, immunoassay, coagulation, urinalysis, centrifuges, biosafety cabinets and fume hoods, microscopes, incubators, refrigerators and minus 80 freezers, water systems, and the LIS. If it is on the buildout quote, we can usually finance it together.