University of Sheffield spinout, Silvia Bio, has completed a £3m seed raise to speed up complex medicine manufacturing processes.
Its proprietary cell-profiling technology platform identifies biological bottlenecks which limit cell performance and also creates a detailed “fingerprint” of cells behave during the manufacturing process.
All this tech means that they can show how to formulate additives designed to improve product yield and quality. According to the Sheffield spinout, each day a medicine is delayed costs a drug company around £500k in lost sales.
“The medicines being developed today have the potential to transform patients’ lives, but many are becoming harder and more expensive to manufacture,” explained Ed Curry, who co-founded the company with Melinda Pohle, Professor Adama Brown and Professor David James.
“Our platform gives biopharmaceutical companies a much clearer view of why their cells are underperforming and, crucially, provides practical solutions that can be introduced directly into the manufacturing process. This investment will allow us to automate and scale our technology, grow our team and help more companies bring complex medicines to patients faster.”
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The funding round was led by Northern Gritstone, with additional investment from the Parkwalk Northern Universities Venture Fund, the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (managed by Future Planet Capital), Wren Capital, and angel investors.
The cash will allow them to move from the University to a dedicated lab space at Sheffield’s Innovation Centre and triple its headcount.
They will also be able to automate processes currently done manually and increase commercial capacity and develop new products.
“Silvia Bio is tackling a critical bottleneck in the development of next-generation medicines,” added Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone.
“Its technology combines deep scientific insight with a clear commercial proposition: helping manufacturers improve yields, reduce delays and make complex biologics more predictable to produce. Building on world-class research from the University of Sheffield and the support of our venture builder programme, NG Studios, Ed, Melinda and the team have made impressive progress, and we are delighted to support their next phase of growth.”
