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Biotech company Cytomos has announced this month that it has raised £5m to scale up the production of its unique cell analysis technology.

The investment round was oversubscribed, and led by existing investors Archangels, followed by involvement from Old College Capital, Scottish Enterprise Bank and British Business Bank, all based in the UK. Old College Capital is the title of the venture investment fund from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

The cell analysis technology involves the use of an unbiased platform in order to address an unmet need for more financially accessible paths to develop and manufacture cell-derived medicines. The technology, titled AuraCyt, is being used by Cytomos to enable the wider biopharma sphere to deliver faster to market by up to six months. AuraCyt is the basis for Celldonia, a benchtop cell analyser that is currently generating a significant amount of traction on the market. The aims for Celldonia include potentially transforming drug discovery, biologics manufacturing and development processes within the biopharma industry.

As the scale of operations increases, Cytomos is expected to hire additional staff by up to four over the next year. North America is the next step for the Edinburgh-based company as there is an uptake of interest from high-profile technology developers.

David Rigterink, CEO at Cytomos, said, “Successfully raising £5m within a difficult market has been a huge boost for the business. The result is testament to the team’s hard work in delivering our first commercial product with international early adopters. Cytomos now has the right building blocks in place to scale quickly, establish a foot hold in the US, and continue developing our single cell analysis technology to support advancements in biological drug development and manufacturing automation.”