Edinburgh-based life science company Cytomos has secured £1.6m funding to develop its proprietary new approach to analysing cells

The company has created a novel cell analysis platform, Cytomos Dielectric Spectroscopy (CDS), to address what it considers to be the unmet needs of the biopharma industry.

CDS provides a low-cost, portable and scalable alternative to traditional systems, helping companies react in real time, enabling prioritisation and ‘fail fast’ to minimise sunk costs.

Furthermore, it aims to enable non-specialist users to perform quantitative and qualitative cytometry without requiring typical cell labelling reagents, delivering results faster, simplifying the logistics of testing and reducing costs.

Improved cell analysis can help to unlock multiple markets with very high growth potential, including drug development bioprocessing, vaccine production and cell & gene therapy manufacture.

Analysts estimate the value of the global market for single-cell analysis is expected to reach $6.3 billion by 2026.

Executive Chairman at Cytomos Dr Alan Raymond said: “On behalf of our board and employees I would like to thank our investors for their continued support of Cytomos. We now have the growth capital required to advance the development of our novel process analytical technology platform to the next phase of prototype evaluation with our strategic partners.

“This is an important milestone in the journey to deliver our mission to enable the development and manufacture of life saving biologic therapies.”

Cytomos has made significant progress over the last year in developing its technology platform. It has successfully tested its protype devices in the field, enabling understanding of performance criteria and areas of development focus required to meet user needs, as well as secured the key patent for CDS in the US and appointed an experienced Board and Scientific Advisory Board.

The company’s latest fundraising round was led by existing investor Archangels, an early investor in Cytomos, with participation from Scottish Enterprise and Old College Capital.

The funding will allow the company to grow its team, deliver its next generation sensor and analytics for real time monitoring and analysis of cells and expand its customer engagement.

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Director and Head of New Investments at Archangels Sarah Hardy added: “The demand for single-cell and label-free analysis tools is soaring and the CDS platform developed by Cytomos is uniquely placed to provide a low cost, real-time format that is highly scalable. and easy to operate with a small footprint.

“We are excited by its potential to be truly disruptive and look forward to supporting the team as the businesses further develops its commercial viability.”

Director of Growth Investments at Scottish Enterprise Kerry Sharp said: “Scotland’s life sciences sector is globally renowned thanks to our incredible workforce, world-class universities and innovative companies that are located here.

“Encouraging and supporting businesses in this sector, such as Cytomos, to innovate and grow is a priority for Scottish Enterprise. The technology platform developed by Cytomos enhances cell analysis and this investment will allow the company to progress this technology further, delivering potential growth opportunities and medical advances in the process.”

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