Biotech boost as duo secure £2.5 million funds
1 Feb 2022
A Scottish biotech engineering company developing innovative bio-separation instruments for pharmaceutical and food manufacturers has secured more than £2.5 million from private equity investment and grants to further commercialise its solution.
uFraction8’s instruments are designed to enable more efficient engineering of bio-based products including microalgae-based foods, mammalian cell-based drugs, or yeast-based products such as beer or medicines.
Co-founded in 2017 by Dr Brian Miller and Dr Monika Tomecka, the company’s cutting-edge technology harnesses the power of microfluidics to enable gentle separation of cell-based products from liquid in which they are grown.
The investment round was led by Thia Ventures alongside fellow FoodTech investors Blue Horizon and EIT Food, with additional funding from a London-based angel. It was also supported by Scottish Enterprise and global research group Leave a Nest, with additional grant funding secured from European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) and Innovate UK.
Blue Horizon director Friederike Grosse-Holz said the technology would lead to changes that required to unlock low-cost, large-scale production of animal cells and micro-organisms for food applications,enabling more efficient bio-manufacturing crucial to sustainable food systems.
Co-founder of uFraction8, Tomecka, added: “This significant investment, along with the immense and highly successful bio-manufacturing sector track record of our new partners, will enable uFraction8 to grow faster than ever before. Our entire team is excited and ready for the hard work ahead in taking the business to the next level and beyond.
“We remain open to further collaboration opportunities that will support our aim of promoting our cutting-edge technology across global markets.”
