What if people with diabetes could check their blood sugar by breathing into a device instead of pricking a finger? BOYDSense, a Toulouse start-up with an office in South San Francisco, developed a pocket-size device that estimates blood glucose from volatile organic compounds in the breath, using its own metal oxide sensors, in less than two minutes.
The European Innovation Council granted €2,500,000 towards an €8.71 million project, and the company raised €7 million in 2024. By the end of the project in December 2025 it had run clinical studies but had no approved product, and was "seeking for new investors". On 3 September 2026 a French court opened its judicial liquidation, according to the official BODACC notice.
Company file
- Legal entity
- BOYDSense, SIREN 880924774, Toulouse, France
- Registered
- December 2019
- CEO
- Ben Delhey (appointed February 2022)
- Technology
- MOx sensors detecting breath VOCs to estimate blood glucose
- Investor named
- Swiss Diabetes Venture Fund
- Status
- Judicial liquidation, insolvency dated 3 September 2026
- EIC project
- Lassie, 1 Aug 2022 to 31 Dec 2025
- EIC funding
- Grant first
Where BOYDSense Stands Today
The BODACC, France's official gazette of company notices, published on 20 September 2026 a judgment opening the judicial liquidation of BOYDSense, setting the date it stopped paying its debts as 3 September 2026 and appointing a liquidator in Labège. Judicial liquidation in France is the procedure for companies that cannot be rescued. The company's website is still online, and its latest news item is the €7 million capital increase of April 2024.
The Technology: Glucose From Breath
BOYDSense treats volatile compounds in exhaled breath as markers of metabolism. Its device samples breath, measures these compounds with metal oxide sensors and calculates a glucose value with an algorithm. Its website lists presentations at the ATTD, EASD and ADA diabetes conferences in 2024 and quotes the Swiss Diabetes Venture Fund calling it "one of the leading companies in this space".
"BOYDSense is currently seeking for new investors to join current, leading investors in our Serie A."
Lassie final report, CORDISWhat the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
Lassie promised "the first-ever painless breath analyser for people with diabetes". The CORDIS report says three clinical trials were performed to "validate the embedded algorithm for blood glucose value calculation within current accuracy standard", with "good results on device performance" in the first, and describes a pocket-size device that measures in under two minutes. It gives no accuracy figures, patient numbers or regulatory status. On ClinicalTrials.gov, the first study, sponsored by Toulouse University Hospital, enrolled 130 people and finished in February 2023; a later study in type 2 diabetes enrolled 20.
- A pocket breath analyserDeliveredDevice described on CORDIS.
- Clinical validationPartialSmall studies; no accuracy figures in EU report.
- Regulatory approvalMissedNo CE mark or FDA clearance.
- A company that continuesMissedLiquidation, September 2026.
What Has Happened Since the Award
The Money
The award was "grant first", and we found no EIC Fund investment. Besides the EU's €2.5 million, BOYDSense announced a €7 million capital increase in April 2024; the Swiss Diabetes Venture Fund is the only investor its website names. The French register data we could access show no financial figures, although the company filed accounts until 2025.
What cannot be checked
How accurate the device was, how much of the grant was spent, what creditors are owed and whether any of the technology will be sold in the liquidation are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
A reliable glucose meter without needles is an idea that attracts investors and public money. BOYDSense shows how far a company can get on €9.5 million of disclosed funding: clinical studies and conference papers, but not a validated product or the next round needed to reach one.
What the project promised
The first-ever painless breath analyser for people with diabetes.
What the record shows
A prototype device, small studies, no regulatory approval and judicial liquidation.
The Verdict
Too little proof, too little money
BOYDSense built its device and tested it in people, but its EU report gives no accuracy figures, the measure a glucose meter lives or dies by, beyond a company-cited claim in 2023 that more than 98% of values correlated with blood tests. It never found the investors it said it was seeking. Nine months after the EIC project ended, the company was placed in liquidation.
BOYDSense has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, EU project data, the trial registry and French official notices, linked throughout.
