Edinburgh-based biotechnology company Cytomos has secured £5 million to scale up production of its cell analysis technology.

The oversubscribed funding round was led by existing investors Archangels, and saw participation from the likes of Scottish Enterprise, the University of Edinburgh’s Old College Capital, and the British Business Bank.

Cytomos said that the investment will enable it to drive sales of its first commercial product, Celledonia™, built on its cell analysis technology platform, AuraCyt, which is “already generating significant market traction.”

Celledonia™ is a benchtop cell analyser which aims to significantly enhance single-cell analysis, potentially transforming biological drug discovery, development processes, and biologics manufacturing.

AuraCyt, meanwhile, is a scalable and low-cost cell analysis platform. With the platform, Cytomos helps biopharma to bring novel therapies to market by up to 6 months faster, and reduce costs by enabling decision-making faster.

The business currently employs 21 people, who are largely based at its new premises in Roslin, and it expects to add another four staff over the next year as the firm continues to scale operations.

With its sights also set on establishing a foothold in North America, the company has a pipeline of trials planned with global partners, and “strong” interest in co-development opportunities from tech developers and a top 10 pharma company.

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Sarah Hardy, director and head of new investments at Archangels, said: “Cytomos has gone from strength to strength, achieving commercialisation earlier this year marks a critical inflection point for the business.

“With new premises secured and a robust plan to derisk the supply chain, we’re looking forward to helping David and the team scale their operations and secure access to new markets.”

David Rigterink, CEO at Cytomos, also commented: “Successfully raising £5 million 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 foothold in the US, and continue developing our single cell analysis technology to support advancements in biological drug development and manufacturing automation.”