Edinburgh-based Cytomos, a life science company that has developed a new approach to analysing cells, announced on Tuesday that it has secured £4M (approximately €4.64M) in a fresh round of funding to scale up market-testing of its technology platform Cytomos Dielectric Spectroscopy (CDS).
The round was led by existing investors Archangels with participation from Old College Capital, Scottish Enterprise and new investor British Business Bank.
In 2022, Cytomos raised £1.6M in seed funding from Archangel with participation from Scottish Enterprise and Old College Capital, which allowed the company to expand technical development and personnel from seven employees to Twelve.
The company recently received a £0.5M reward in SMART grant funding from Innovate UK.
“We are gaining momentum and looking forward to the next level of company progress, team development and enhancing our revolutionary technology for real-time, in-line cell analytics,” says Cytomos.
The lead investor
Archangels, founded in 1992, is a business angel syndicate that focuses on early-stage Scottish life sciences and technology companies. With around 120 members, an 11-strong board, and an executive team, the company currently has 19 companies in their portfolio.
Sarah Hardy, director and head of new investments at Archangels, says, “Cytomos’ ambitious vision to improve real-time cell analysis in formats to better suit the end users will revolutionise the development and commercialisation of products in the bioprocessing and cell and gene therapies spaces.”
Predictive analytics for bioprocessing and cell therapies
Founded in 2012, Cytomos has developed a platform called CDS (Cell Decision Systems) to address challenges in the biopharmaceutical industry.
CDS offers high-speed, scalable, and cost-effective cell analysis, aiming to accelerate drug development and reduce costs. It empowers scientists to make critical decisions earlier, minimising expenses by enabling quick adjustments.
By addressing information access challenges, the platform aims to optimise advanced therapy production processes and revolutionise decision-making in the biopharma sector.
In the past year, Cytomos has enhanced its operational management and strategic team by bringing in CEO David Rigterink and CSO Lindsay Fraser.
This leadership has facilitated partnerships with key players in bioprocessing and cell/gene therapy, including major C(D)MO leaders, leading bioprocessing solution providers, and innovative TechBio partners in the Advanced Therapy and Medical Products (ATMP) space.
Capital utilisation
Cytomos says it will use the funds to advance the development of its technology and substantially expand the team. The company is targeting the commercialisation of its platforms in 2024.
CEO David Rigterink says, “We are uniquely positioned in harnessing the power of consumer electronics technology to meet the emerging, complex needs of the bioprocess industry. On the back of a very successful year for Cytomos, this new funding will now allow us to scale up our engagement with industry partners.”
“We truly believe that, through our CDS technology, we offer a powerful platform which will help the scientific community bring novel therapies to market faster and radically reduce costs by making better informed, game-changing decisions a lot earlier,” adds Rigterink.
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