Five University of Bristol spinout companies with links to the Bristol BioDesign Institute and BrisSynBio have announced over £4m in new investment and awards.
Halo Therapeutics secured a £1.5 million investment, led by the Development Bank of Wales alongside Science Angel Syndicate (SAS) members and the KBA Group, to begin clinical trials of an easy-to-use, cost-effective, home therapeutic treatment for SARS-CoV-2 (coronaviruses). Halo was founded by CEO Dr Daniel Fitzgerald, Prof Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel, and Prof Imre Berger following research conducted as part of BrisSynBio. Imre, a Co-Director of the BBI, said the antiviral spray: “stops the virus from entering and multiplying in the nasal epithelial cells, where it can then spread to the throat and then into the lungs. It is a potential game-changer in the treatment and prevention of coronaviruses, particularly with the emergence of new viruses.”
Scarlet Therapeutics, which is working on a new technology to develop red blood cells that carry additional proteins within them to provide therapeutic benefit which can reach all parts of the body, has received funding to progress the innovation. Founded by Prof Ash Toye and Prof Jan Frayne, Scarlet Therapeutics has raised seed funding from Science Creates Ventures and Meltwind to build a pipeline of novel therapies to treat patients with a wide range of diseases, particularly metabolic disorders.
Rosa Biotech has secured £415,000 in Seed+ investment to accelerate development of its pioneering bio-sensing technology, designed to enable cost effective screening of a range of life-threatening diseases with high accuracy at an early stage. Rosa is initially targeting “the early identification of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) which, if left untreated can develop into steatohepatitis (NASH) leading to liver failure. The Western world has experienced a 100% increase in NASH cases during the last 30 years and this trend is expected to accelerate in the coming decades.”
Imophoron has announced a £2.4m extension to its seed funding round, following significant investment from Meiji Yasuda Future Innovation Fund L.P., managed by Global Brain. They join existing investors Octopus Ventures and Science Creates Ventures in the extension. Imophoron is developing novel, thermostable nanoparticle vaccines using its ADDomer™ platform.
CDotBio, which is cultivating novel carbon nanodot biotechnology for a new generation of efficient, productive, climate resilient crops, has been awarded £50,000 from the Blavatnik Prize for Innovation. The Prize “provides opportunities for start-ups, pre-registration teams, or individuals to launch a bespoke project that would support the commercialisation of their technologies or products”.