Semarion, a University of Cambridge spin-out company from the Cavendish Laboratory, has raised £2.9 million.

The firm combines materials engineering and cell biology to tackle unmet drug screening needs.

The fundraise was led by Parkwalk, and joined by The FSE Group, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Oxford Innovation Finance, Found Capital, Cambridge Capital Group, and Start Codon.

The investment will facilitate commercial expansion and scale manufacturing of the company’s SemaCyte platform which enables adherent cell models to be handled as assay-ready, barcoded reagents for more flexible, data-rich, scalable drug discovery.

Semarion’s technology has already been adopted by leading global pharmaceutical organisations, including top 10 pharma companies, across the US and Europe, with multiple pilot programs progressing towards broader commercial rollout.