Cellevate raises 39 million SEK in Seed Financing to accelerate their global commercial launch
LUND, Sweden, October 10, 2023 - Cellevate, an innovative biotech company that develops the next generation of cell culture systems designed to revolutionize biomanufacturing, announced today the successful closure of its recent investment round, securing a total of 39 million SEK. The round was led by Industrifonden, in syndication with the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund) and Onsight Ventures.
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 nanomaterial provides the highest surface area for cell growth, up to 60 times, compared to today’s standards, allowing for more cells and thereby higher yields to be obtained from different bioreactors. By removing the restrictions of the traditional non-woven formats, and taking nanofiber materials into the 3rd dimension, Cellevat3d™ overcomes the current scalability challenges in biomanufacturing. Cellevate aims to accelerate the biomanufacturing revolution by unblocking these bottlenecks, thus enabling more patients around the world to gain access to life-changing therapies.
Laura Chirica, PhD, CEO Cellevate said: "We are thrilled to have gained tremendous support from such a strong syndicate of investors, who share our vision of transforming biomanufacturing. This investment represents a significant milestone for our company and a valuable endorsement for the potential of our Cellevat3d™ nanotechnology, allowing us to take the next pivotal steps on our journey. The financing will enable us to accelerate commercialization and to progress towards our goal of making a lasting impact in the global healthcare landscape."
The new capital will be instrumental in driving Cellevate's ambitious plans for commercialization and facilitating a global product launch. Specifically, the funds will be allocated towards growing the team, establishing robust manufacturing capabilities, and launching the company's revolutionary nanofiber-based products in key markets.
Mala Valroy, Investment Manager at Industrifonden and incoming board member of Cellevate, commented: "We are impressed by Cellevate's groundbreaking technology and the team behind it. This investment reflects our commitment to supporting pioneering companies that have the potential to revolutionize the industry. We look forward to a long-term partnership with Cellevate as they advance their mission of driving innovation in biomanufacturing."
Herman Hauser, PhD, serial entrepreneur, Venture Partner, and advisor at Onsight Ventures said: "As cell culture and biomanufacturing processes do play an increasingly important role, we are looking for start-ups like Cellevate that have the potential to set new industry standards.”
Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board, said: “The EIC Fund has established itself as a strong force in EU deep-tech investments. This unique form of financing via EIC - combining grants and equity – is proving itself highly attractive to Europe's most promising start-ups. Our investment will provide Cellevate with means to scale up their nanotechnology and accelerate their global commercial launch.”
For more information, please contact:
Laura Chirica, PhD
CEO Cellevate
Email: laura.chirica@cellevate.com
About Cellevate
Cellevate is a spin out from NanoLund - a world leading nanomaterial academic center, part of Lund University in Sweden. The company founded in 2014, develops and markets products based on a proprietary nanofiber-based platform - the Cellevat3d™ - a game-changing, green and sustainable, deep-tech innovation for the biopharmaceutical industry. This platform allows for an industrial-scale production of nanofiber materials – “carriers” - with unparalleled surface area for cell growth, reproducibility and customization, which ultimately lead to an improved biomanufacturing productivity and process economy. Cellevat3d™ carriers products are designed as an integrated part of upstream bioprocess solutions, starting with laboratory testing of cell lines followed by pilot and large-scale batch production of novel classes of biological therapies, including cell- and gene therapies and vaccines. Cellevat3d™ carriers have a commercial launch and sales start planned for 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.
About Onsight Ventures
Onsight Ventures is a new pan-European VC fund investing in excellent deep tech startups. Backed by Hermann Hauser, Austrian-British venture capitalist and founder of ARM, Onsight Ventures builds on a network of leading startups, universities, and experts to support outstanding start-up teams in realizing their technology-based business ideas. The fund invests in university spin-offs in Europe in the fields of Semiconductors, Photonics, Additive Manufacturing, Digital Health or Synthetic Biology. https://www.onsight.vc/
