Cytomos raises £5M to scale up cell-analysis production

Edinburgh-based biotech Cytomos has raised £5M to scale up production of its cell analysis technology.

The round was led by existing investors Archangels with participation from Old College Capital, Scottish Enterprise and British Business Bank.

The capital will be invested in marketing Cytomos its first commercial product, Celledonia™, built on its cell-analysis technology platform AuraCyt. Celledonia™ is a benchtop cell analyser which aims to significantly enhance single-cell analysis, potentially transforming biological drug discovery, development processes, and biologics manufacturing.

The business' sights are now set on establishing a foothold in North America, the company has a pipeline of trials planned with global partners and strong interest in co-development opportunities from technology developers and a pharma company.

Cytomos' technology AuraCyt is an unbiased, scalable cell analysis platform to provide a scalable alternative to current cell analysis systems. Using this platform, Cytomos enables biopharma to bring novel therapies to market by up to 6 months faster and reduce costs by enabling critical decision making earlier. Its scalable nature makes it unique in measuring cellular physiology based on intrinsic single-cell properties.

Sarah Hardy, director and head of new investments at Archangels, said: “Cytomos has gone from strength to strength, achieving commercialisation earlier this year marks a critical inflection point for the business. With new premises secured and a robust plan to derisk the supply chain, we’re looking forward to helping David and the team scale their operations and secure access to new markets.”

David Rigterink, CEO at Cytomos, added: “Successfully raising £5 million within a difficult market has been a huge boost for the business. The result is testament to the team’s hard work in delivering our first commercial product with international early adopters. Cytomos now has the right building blocks in place to scale quickly, establish a foothold in the US, and continue developing our single cell analysis technology to support advancements in biological drug development and manufacturing automation.”

The business employs 21, largely based at its new premises in Roslin, and expects to add another four staff over the next year.