Semarion Raises £2.14 Million GBP ($2.89 Million USD) Seed Funding

Semarion Ltd, a University of Cambridge spin-out company from the Cavendish Laboratory combining materials engineering and cell biology to tackle unmet drug screening needs, announced that it has closed a £2.14 million GBP seed funding round on Feb. 22, 2022. Parkwalk Advisors led the investment round, alongside contributors Martlet Capital, the University of Cambridge Seed Funds, and angel investors.

The funding will support recruitment, commercial partnerships, and further development of Semarion’s SemaCyte cell assaying platform, which turns adherent cells into liquid reagents to enable novel drug screening methodologies.

SemaCytes, developed by Semarion, are a novel class of cell carrier materials, created using microchip fabrication technologies, nanomagnetism, and smart materials. These assaying microcarriers function as ultra-miniaturized, magnetically steerable wells that carry small colonies of adherent cells into suspension to improve cell-based experiments. They enable the controlled movement of cell types, which need to stick to a surface, namely those typically used for in vitro drug screening work.

According to the press release, this technology improves the quality and reproducibility of cell screening data while reducing the time and cost to deliver research outputs.

“This is a crucial step towards the commercialization of our SemaCyte cell assaying platform,” said Jeroen Verheyen, co-founder and CEO of Semarion, in the press release. “We were excited to see our product testers appreciate its truly unique features. We aim to keep working closely with biopharma partners to address their unmet cell screening needs. I would like to thank all our investors and supporters for believing in the Semarion team and the SemaCyte technology.”

Source: Semarion