Aberdeen biopharmaceutical startup EnteroBiotix raises £2m seed extension investment

The Scottish biopharmaceutical startup EnteroBiotix has announced the closing of a £2m seed extension investment. The oversubscribed round was led by Scottish angel firm Equity Gap and supported by existing investors the Scottish Investment Bank, the University of Aberdeen and the Bank Workers Charity. Existing investors were joined in the round by Barwell Plc, Gabriel, Syndicate Room, Fund Twenty8, NCIMB Limited and SIS Ventures.

EnteroBiotix develops medical products using cultured gut bacteria from healthy donors. These microbiome therapeutics are then used to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections and gastrointestinal conditions using faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). EnteroBiotix’s existing product portfolios are patent-pending, and the company has been granted a manufacturers 'specials' licence from the UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

EnteroBiotix was founded by Dr. James McIlroy in 2017 during his medical studies. This £2m follow on funding follows £2.5m of existing seed investments the company has raised previously, led by Equity Gap and the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise.

With the new investment, the EnteroBiotix team will continue to fund research and development, as well as to expand operations to the United States. On their international expansion, founder and President Dr. James McIlroy said, “We’re moving ahead with global ambition and Boston is widely regarded as being one of the epicentres for biotechnology and microbiome research. In light of this, we felt as though it was a natural next step for us. We’re also making plans and steps to set up another facility and office elsewhere in Europe, which we hope to announce later on this year”.

Dr. James Clark PhD, CEO of EnteroBiotix, said: “The seed extension financing and strategic expansion in the United States allows our team to develop strong partnerships in one of the most active life science clusters in the world and further accelerate the development of EnteroBiotix.”

The company has also recently announced a strategic research collaboration with the University of Glasgow to identify precision antimicrobials that may be combined with the company’s existing whole ecosystem therapeutics to create new medical products. This partnership is supported by the UK’s Medical Research Council.

Kerry Sharp, Director of the Scottish Investment Bank, said: “SIB is delighted to provide follow on funding alongside existing and new investors in EnteroBiotix. This round of investment will fund ongoing scientific advances which will bring significant health benefits to patients as well as support expansion overseas. We look forward to continuing to work with this High Growth Account Managed company to support it in achieving its growth ambitions.”