Designed to slow the spread of disease and save lives during a global emergency, this prize challenged teams to create rapid, affordable, and easy-to-use COVID-19 tests, making reliable diagnostics accessible when the world needs them most.
Impact
10M+ low-cost COVID-19 tests deployed worldwide
8M people reached through ChromaCode’s platform, powering 1.5% of all U.S. PCR tests during Omicron
1,400+ patents filed or issued by competing teams, advancing global diagnostic innovation
Winner
The $6M XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing prize recognized five co-winners—Reliable LFC, ChromaCode, Mirimus, La Jolla Institute for Immunology, and Alveo Technologies—each delivering scalable, cost-effective testing solutions that improved global pandemic response.

ChromaCode

Mirimus Inc.

Reliable-LFC, LLC
Sponsors
Sponsors fund the prize journey from bold idea to breakthrough—shaping each competition, supporting global teams, and accelerating solutions that scale. Their backing powers impact that lasts well beyond the prize.
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Partners
Partners play a hands-on role in our prizes—co-designing competitions, supporting operations, and helping scale solutions with their expertise, resources, and global reach.
Barrier
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world urgently needed fast, affordable, and scalable testing—but most tests were slow, expensive, and limited in supply. Without better tools, communities couldn’t track or contain the virus effectively.
Breakthrough
Solutions delivered COVID-19 tests that were affordable, high-volume, and rapidly deployable at scale, while maintaining clinical accuracy. These innovations expanded real-time access to testing during critical case surges.
About the Prize
The $6M XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing Challenge was launched in 2020 to accelerate the development of accessible diagnostic solutions dramatically. At the time, most tests were too costly, too slow, or unavailable at scale to support an effective pandemic response.
Teams were tasked with developing testing methods that could deliver accurate results in under 12 hours, cost less than $15, and be deployed at scale. Solutions had to undergo clinical validation in two separate labs and demonstrate reliability under real-world conditions.
Out of hundreds of global applicants, 20 teams advanced to the finals. Ultimately, five co-winners were selected, each offering a different but effective approach to rapid testing. Among them, ChromaCode’s high-definition PCR technology paired with cloud-based analytics enabled real-time data delivery and extreme scalability—accounting for millions of tests across the U.S. during the Omicron surge.
The competition proved that open innovation can deliver public health tools faster than traditional systems, equipping the world with better testing when it mattered most.
Prize Schedule
Launched in July 2020, the competition concluded in early 2021 with five co-winners. Their solutions quickly moved from prototypes to real-world deployment—scaling to millions of tests and leaving lasting tools for future health challenges.
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