‘Organ-on-a-chip’ firm CN Bio has raised almost £17 million in the first close of its Series B fundraising round.
The provider of single- and multi-organ microphysiological systems has secured the funding from several new investors, including £8m from Bayland Capital, and almost £4.5m from founding shareholder CN Innovations Holdings Ltd.
The investment will be used to accelerate the MedTech 50 company’s expanding product portfolio and to scale the business to support commercial expansion across key global markets.
The Cambridge firm says it is seeing increasing demand for its PhysioMimix technology and research services. It also aims to provide deeper, clinically-relevant insights into early-stage preclinical drug discovery in a wider range of application areas, whilst reducing reliance on animal models.
Over the past year, this has included a series of high-profile appointments to expand the company’s leadership team in the UK and US, new product launches, and strategic industry collaborations.
“We are seeing pivotal growth across our industry, whereby drug developers are increasingly recognising the potential of OOC technology to augment, supplement and optimise their workflows,” said Dr Paul Brooks, CEO.
“We have strategically positioned ourselves accordingly to respond to the market needs and are proud to have received recognition from our major shareholder, CN Innovations, and new institutional investors such as Bayland Capital, to drive this vision forward.
“The investment is a testament to our team’s hard work and dedication to best supporting our customers to bring drugs to patients more quickly, more cost-effectively, and through less animal experimentation.”
BenevolentAI to close US office, slash more jobs amid boardroom coup
Yuexing Su, founding partner at Bayland Capital, commented: “OOC technology is an exciting market with compelling opportunity for growth. CN Bio has taken key steps to build a team with extensive industry expertise and robust networks across the industry, with a long-standing track record of success.
“We look forward to the continued success for the company as it further capitalises on this unique growth opportunity and delivers on its future expansion plans to remain at the cutting-edge of the field.
“We will leverage our networks and shareholders’ base to further support and cement the leading position of CN Bio in OOC development.”
Charles Chong, managing director, CN Innovations, added: “We are encouraged by CN Bio’s ongoing success and, in particular, the team’s achievements over the past years, during which conditions have been difficult in the broader economy.
“In this time, key milestones have been met, not just for the company, but also the wider industry – including CN Bio providing critical human-relevant compound efficacy data to support the FDA’s approval for Inipharm’s Phase 1 clinical trial for metabolic liver disease.
“We are pleased to be supporting CN Bio again as it looks ahead and strengthens its future growth plans, of which, expanding its product portfolio in markets that hold huge impact for the industry, such as metabolic disease modelling and toxicology, will be key.”