Tencent backs Cambridge-based startup in $67 million funding to address opportunities in biomedicine

Cambridge-based player in the field of microbiome-based therapeutics, biomarkers and targets, Microbiotica has raised £50 million ($67 million) funding. The Series B round was co-led by Flerie Invest and Tencent with participation from new investors, including British Patient Capital and existing investors such as Cambridge Innovation Capital, IP Group, and Seventure Partners.

According to the company, the funding is one of the largest microbiome-related funding in Europe to date. The additional investment will enable the company to develop its two oral Live Bacterial Therapeutics (LBTs), MB097 and MB310 to Phase 1b clinical studies. Microbiotica will also expand its discovery pipeline of biomarkers and LBTs in new disease areas.

Founded in 2016 by Mike Romanos, the platform has developed technology, which uses the body’s trillions of resident bacteria known as the microbiome, to discover and develop therapeutic medicines and biomarkers for a range of disorders. Its current areas of focus are cancer immunotherapy and inflammatory bowel disease.

Mike Romanos, co-founder and CEO, Microbiotica, said: “The investment reflects the significance of the microbiome’s therapeutic potential. With this additional investment, we will be able to conduct clinical trials with our lead products in immuno-oncology and ulcerative colitis. We will also expand our portfolio of microbiome-based products which have the potential to benefit patients globally.”

Carl-Johan Spak, senior advisor, Flerie Invest, added: “There is ever-increasing evidence that the microbiome plays an important role in human health and in multiple diseases, providing completely new therapeutic opportunities in biomedicine. Microbiotica’s platform with its microbial genomes database, advanced microbiology and bioinformatics will lead to transformational medicines in the microbiome field.”

Judith Hartley, CEO of British Patient Capital, said: “Through its bioinformatics platform, the platform is generating therapeutic treatments targeting immuno-oncology and ulcerative colitis. It has a number of drug development programmes that are progressing to clinical trials. British Patient Capital, through our Future Fund: Breakthrough programme, is supporting this team as they continue to explore and commercialise this exciting new area of medicine.”

Spun out of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, it has partnered with organisations, such as Cancer Research UK, Cambridge University Hospitals, University of Adelaide and Genentech.