Cambridge graphene-based startup rakes in $60 million to rollout biosensor for healthcare industry

Cambridge-based graphene startup Paragraf has raised $60 million funding in a Series B round. The investment was led by US deep tech investor New Science Ventures and saw the participation of Molten Ventures alongside fellow current investors, including Parkwalk, Amadeus Capital Partners, IQ Capital and new investors such as British Patient Capital through its Future Fund: Breakthrough and US-based In-Q-Tel.

The startup, which has already collaborated with CERN, National Physical Laboratory and Rolls-Royce, will use the funding to expand further and continue its international growth. The funding will also allow it to scale the business, increase sales, boost its R&D capabilities and expand its manufacturing infrastructure. It will also rollout the next breakthrough product, a graphene-based biosensor targeted at transforming clinical point of care in the medical industry.

The long-awaited alternative to silicon in the electronics devices market, graphene is one of the most conductive materials in the world. It is strong yet flexible and capable of withstanding very high electrical powers, with great thermal integrity. The material also offers a number of positive environmental impacts, including reduced power consumption.

Founded in 2015, the Cambridge spinoff startup delivers a scalable approach to graphene device manufacturing. Its products, the Graphene Hall Effect Sensor range, are already being used in a wide range of applications across the aerospace, semiconductor, healthcare, automotive, scientific research, industrial and quantum computing spaces.

Dr Simon Thomas, co-founder and CEO, Paragraf said: “Our increasing desire for continually improving electronic device performance paired with the absolute necessity to reduce our power requirements, and hence carbon footprints, demands new technology solutions - next generation materials will be at the heart of this.”

Somu Subramaniam, managing partner, New Science Ventures added: “Developing and manufacturing at scale, graphene-based sensors and electronics devices, has been a major challenge to industry. Paragraf has met that challenge and is delivering commercial products with order of magnitude improvements in product performance.”