InSphero AG Secures CHF 20 Million Series C Financing
Schlieren, Switzerland, July 8, 2015 – Leading 3D cell culture company gains new long-term investor to fuel expansion of global operations and product portfolio.
InSphero AG, the world's leading developer of easy-to-use solutions for organotypic 3D cell culture models and body-on-a-chip systems, has secured CHF 20 million in financing from the family investment office of a globally active entrepreneur represented through HP WILD HOLDING AG based in Zug, Switzerland. InSphero is using the Series C financing round to rapidly expand its global footprint, broaden its portfolio of novel 3D microtissues and contract research services for 3D drug safety and efficacy testing, and develop new products and applications based on its proven technology.
Since its commercial launch in 2010, the company has experienced strong year-over-year sales growth marked by the rapid adoption of its 3D InSight™ microtissues and services by leading pharmaceutical, chemical, and cosmetics companies. Since last year, large pharma organizations have begun converting from conventional assays to InSphero's 3D microtissues.
Dr. Jan Lichtenberg, CEO and co-founder of InSphero, says that the investment round enables InSphero to leverage successful customer implementations, robust validation data, and growing scientific evidence to become the gold standard in the field of 3D cell-based assays.
"This investment is an affirmation of InSphero's valuable, more predictive liver, islet, and tumor model systems for use throughout the drug development process," said Lichtenberg. "The family office behind HP WILD HOLDING AG brings to InSphero a long-term perspective as well as decades of experience building global brands and driving operational excellence. Their financial commitment is also strengthened by an established international network that will help us better serve the growing global demand for microtissues and services, particularly in North America and Asia."
The proceeds of the financing round will be invested to expand InSphero's North American scientific staff and operations into a state-of-the art bio-production facility; increase the variety of model systems available to customers across different industries; and to develop new products including InSphero's Body-on-a-Chip technology and personalized-medicine kits to maturity.
InSphero's pipeline includes 3D liver, skin, heart, brain, and tumor models developed for toxicity testing and disease modeling, as well as next-generation 3D cell culture platforms.
