Microcarriers Technology attracts £2.14 million Seed Funding

University of Cambridge/Cavendish Laboratory spin-out company Semarion, recently closed a £2.14 million GBP seed funding round that will support commercial development of its SemaCyte® cell assaying platform, support recruitment of scientists and engineers and establish additional research collaborations with biopharma partners. The company specialises in combining materials engineering and cell biology to tackle unmet drug screening needs.  Contibutors of the investment round, led by Parkwalk Advisors, included the University of Cambridge Seed Funds, Martlet Capital and angel investors.

SemaCytes are a novel class of cell carrier materials, created using microchip fabrication technologies, nanomagnetism, and smart materials. These assaying microcarriers are flat and function as ultra-miniaturised, magnetically steerable wells which carry small colonies of adherent cells into suspension to improve cell-based experiments. They enable the controlled movement of cell types which need to stick to a surface, namely those typically used for in vitro drug screening work.

Semarion was co-founded at the Cavendish Laboratory in 2018 by Jeroen Verheyen (CEO), Tarun Vemulkar (CTO) and Professor Russell Cowburn. Jeroen’s background in cell model development and Tarun’s experience in advanced materials and microfabrication drive Semarion’s vision to address foundational bottlenecks in drug discovery by integrating expertise across disciplines. Previously, the Company received pre-seed funding and business support from Start Codon, a UK venture builder and investor, who supported the transition of the company out of the University.

Jeroen Verheyen, said: “This is a crucial step towards the commercialisation of our SemaCyte cell assaying platform. We were excited to see our product testers appreciate its truly unique feature. We aim to keep working closely with biopharma partners to address their unmet cell screening needs. I would like to thank all our investors and supporters for believing in the Semarion team and the SemaCyte technology.”

Cassie Doherty, Investment Director, Parkwalk Advisors, commented: “There is a clear need within the industry for Semarion’s new platform, to support in vitro research on cell models. We are delighted to support the Company in this initial funding round and look forward to being a part of their continued success.”

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