Cellevate closes second seed round, raising 3.2 MEUR to enter into global commercialization
LUND, Sweden, September 16, 2024 – Cellevate, an innovative biotech company developing next-generation cell culture systems to revolutionize biomanufacturing, announced today the successful closure of its recent second seed round led by Industrifonden in syndication with the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund), securing a total of 3.2 MEUR. By achieving commercial and technical readiness in Q3 2024, Cellevate is preparing for the aggressive commercialization of the first product, Cellevat3d™ nanofiber microcarriers in November 2024.
Combined with the first seed round in October 2023, which raised 3.4 million EUR, Cellevate has now secured a total of 6.6 million EUR in equity funding. Additionally, the company has in 2022 been awarded 2.6 million EUR in soft funding and grants, including 2.48 million EUR from the EIC Accelerator, underscoring the significant potential of Cellevate’s nanofiber-based technology and its ability to disrupt the biopharmaceutical manufacturing market.
Cellevate’s proprietary nanofiber-based technology – Cellevat3d™ – represents a groundbreaking innovation developed for biomanufacturing of next-generation therapies, including cell and gene therapies and novel vaccines. The technology offers up to 60 times the surface area for cell growth compared to current standards, significantly enhancing yields in bioreactors. The first product portfolio, Cellevat3d™ nanofiber microcarriers is designed to improve yield, scalability, and productivity of viral vectors production in gene therapy applications. These scalable, single-use microcarriers closely mimic the human extracellular environment and have shown 2X higher productivity for viral vector production (AAV2) compared to market standards, addressing key industry challenges such as low productivity and high costs.
The new capital will be instrumental in advancing Cellevate’s ambitious commercialization plans and executing a global product launch. The funds are specifically allocated towards establishing Cellevate commercial team in North America, adding critical field application support team to ensure a fast customer onboarding, scaling up production, and the marketing program designed for the market introduction of Cellevat3d™ microcarriers.
Laura Chirica, PhD, CEO Cellevate said: “We are excited and grateful for the continued support from our dedicated syndicate of investors, who continue to share our vision for transforming biomanufacturing. This renewed investment is dedicated to achieving the most important milestone for Cellevate: the successful global launch, commercialization, and sales of the first nanofber based microcarriers in upstream bioprocessing”.
Mala Valroy, Investment Manager at Industrifonden, and Board member of Cellevate, commented: “We are impressed with the progress the team has made in preparing the product and company for a successful commercial launch. This investment positions the company to begin its international expansion and help customers achieve the highest yield and productivity improvements in upstream bioprocessing for gene therapies.”
Uwe Gottschalk, PhD, Operating Partner at Keensight Capital, and Chairman of Cellevate’s Board said: “Great achievement for Cellevate team to complete commercial readiness and successfully close this second seed round backed by a solid investment syndicate. The timing for bringing such cutting-edge solutions for biomanufacturing could not be better as gene therapy needs improved productivity and process economy and Cellevate innovative nanofiber-based products hold the promise to deliver exactly that.”
Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board, said: “We are very pleased to participate in this second closing. Cellevate’s nanofiber-based technology – Cellevat3d™ – represents a groundbreaking innovation developed for biomanufacturing of next-generation therapies, including cell and gene therapies and novel vaccines. Our investment confirms the successful achievement of critical milestones of Cellevate and will help them commercialize their technology. It also shows the continued support from all its investors.”
For more information, please contact:
Laura Chirica, PhD
CEO Cellevate
Email: laura.chirica@cellevate.com
About Cellevate
Cellevate is a Swedish biotech company based on proprietary nanofiber technology dedicated to building the next generation cell culture systems for cell and gene therapy and novel vaccines biomanufacturing. The core nanotechnology, Cellevat3d™ is a game-changing, green and sustainable, deep-tech innovation for the biopharmaceutical industry. This platform allows for an industrial-scale production of nanofiber microcarriers – with unparalleled surface area for cell growth, reproducibility, customization, and scalability, which ultimately lead to an improved biomanufacturing productivity and process economy. Cellevat3d™ microcarriers products are designed as an integrated part of upstream bioprocess solutions, from laboratory to large-scale batch production. Cellevat3d™ nanofiber microcarriers have a commercial launch and sales start in November 2024.
For more information, please visit www.cellevate.com.
About Industrifonden
Industrifonden is Sweden’s Venture Capital Fund looking for unique, scalable innovation that has a meaningful impact on our society. Industrifonden manages more than SEK 5 billion and invests in early-stage companies, from seed to A-round funding with a reach across the Nordics. The investment focus includes specialized technologies and businesses within Deep Tech, Life Science and Transformative Tech. Industrifonden has an evergreen structure which allows a long-term focus on value creation. Read more at industrifonden.com.
About EIC Fund
The European Innovation Council Fund from the European Commission is an agnostic Fund: it invests across all technologies and verticals, and all EU countries and countries associated to Horizon Europe. It provides the investment component of the EIC Accelerator blended finance. The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap and its main purpose is to support companies in the development and commercialization of disruptive technologies, bridging with and crowding in market players, and further sharing risk by building a large network of capital providers and strategic partners suitable for co-investments and follow-on funding. The Fund pays particular attention to the empowerment and support of female founders as well as the ambition to reduce the innovation divide among EU countries. Read more at https://eic.ec.europa.eu/eic-fund_en.
