On January 4, 2026, during the "CES Unveiled" media event in Las Vegas, Bénédicte Astier debuted the Allergen Alert Portable Lab, a device that subsequently won the coveted "Best Startup" award at the conference.
This achievement is exceptional for three reasons:
Solving a Life-or-Death Problem: Unlike many consumer gadgets focused on entertainment, Astier’s startup addresses a critical medical need. Born from her own daughter’s experience with anaphylactic shock, the device can detect 9 major allergens and gluten in any food sample in under two minutes with lab-grade precision.
Successful "Intrapreneurship": Astier’s journey is a rare case of successful corporate spin-out. She originally developed the technology while working as a Quality Manager at the bio-tech giant bioMérieux, eventually securing their investment to launch it as an independent startup—a model of how established corporations can fuel startup innovation.
Hardware is Hard: Launching a functional, hardware-based medical device is notoriously difficult for early-stage startups due to regulatory and manufacturing hurdles. By unveiling a working, production-ready unit on January 4th, Astier defied the high failure rate of "MedTech" hardware startups.
