A Newcastle University spin-out has secured £380,000 of investment to help finance its plans to revolutionise the way cells are grown for the medical industry.
CellulaREvolution has received the cash after identifying a way to make the culturing of cells more efficient and affordable.
The new technology will have huge benefits for the medical and pharmaceutical industries as well as the fast-growing cultured meat sector.
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CellulaREvolution is the first company in the region to benefit from the North East Angel R&D programme, which is backed Innovate 海角视频 and managed by Northstar Ventures.
The investment includes £140,000 from the North East Innovation Fund, £200,000 of grants from Innovate 海角视频 and a further £40,000 investment from a private angel investor.
The business was founded in December 2018 by founders Martina Miotto, Che Connon and Leo Groenewegen. It was spun-out of Newcastle University in July 2019.
Prof Connon, chief technology officer at CellulaREvolution, said: “Whether it’s for the cultured meat, cell therapy or biologics production the need for new ways to grow large numbers of cells in serum free culture is critical to the continued success of these markets.
“Our plans to generate a bioreactor capable of continuous cell production will become a milestone in the industrialisation of adherent cell manufacture.”
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Alex Buchan, Northstar Ventures investment director, said: “Northstar has been the main investor in North East University spin-outs since 2005, their potential is huge, with the expertise and innovation the teams bring.
“We are very impressed with the CellulaREvolution team, they have a clearly identified market opportunity and a ground breaking, scalable solution. We are looking forward to supporting them in their growth and scaling their company globally.
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“We are also pleased that they are the first company to benefit from the new North East Angel R&D programme. Working with angels has always been core to our offering and this programme enables access to a combination of funds to really accelerate the growth of scalable businesses.”
Leo Groenewegen, CellulaREvolution’s CEO, said: “We’re delighted to have the backing from Northstar. It will allow us to become the market leader in the field of continuous cell production.
“The growing demand for cultured meat, for example, is a potentially multi-trillion dollar market and we aim to get our fair share of this. The investment also lets us accelerate our product and company development which in turn leads to an increase in company valuation.”