The funding round was led by an Asian corporate investor but also included investment from new and existing angel investors.
Sphere Fluidics was spun out of the University of Cambridge in 2010 to commercialise technology originating from the University’s chemistry department. The Company has developed a unique platform for single cell analysis and characterisation aimed at boosting new stem cell therapy and biopharmaceutical discovery, as well as enabling the development of novel treatments for single cell diseases, such as cancer.
This latest $7 million financing will be used to develop the manufactured version of Cyto-Mine® and enable its commercial launch later this year. This system is transformational for the biopharmaceutical market. This instrument has successfully developed an alpha-version of its single cell analysis and characterization system for the biopharmaceutical discovery and development market.
Dr Frank F. Craig, CEO of Sphere Fluidics, said: “Commercialization of Cyto-Mine® represents a successful step in our strategy to now sell high value systems. Our initial target market is biopharmaceuticals but later we will also extend sales into other growing global markets including: synthetic biology, single cell therapy engineering, microbial analysis (e.g. antibiotic-resistance screening and microbiome studies) and single cancer cell diagnostics. It is an exciting time for Sphere Fluidics, its investors and customers”.
He added: “Having advised on our previous funding rounds, Mills & Reeve were the obvious choice when we came to raise this latest round. Their breadth of experience and expertise in the early stage investment field was invaluable in getting this round closed smoothly and efficiently”.
The Mills & Reeve team was led by Corporate Finance Principal Associate Pippa Pearce . Pippa commented: “We were delighted to have had the opportunity once again to work with Sphere Fluidics on this latest fundraising, having developed a strong relationship with Frank and his team over the last 5 years. Cyto-Mine® will offer the biopharmaceutical industry a really innovative, cost-effective and streamlined drug discovery tool.”
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