Scottish biotech engineering company uFraction8 has secured £3.4 million in new investment following the completion of a funding round led by the Foresight Group.
The latest investment round also included funding from University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment fund Old College Capital, Scottish Enterprise, AlwynCapital, Thia Ventures and a grant from the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development.
The company secured £2.5 million investment in an earlier investment round in 2022 led by Thia Ventures.
The new funds will be used to further commercialise uFraction8’s technology, originally developed at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering.
Based in Falkirk with a fully-owned subsidiary in Poznan, Poland, uFraction8 said its microfiltration technology is “designed to optimise cell and biomass production, offering a sustainable, energy-efficient alternative to traditional methods used in the production of food, feed, and bio-based products.”
The company said its innovation provides applications across several key markets, including microalgae and biopharma “which are forecast to grow to $3bn and more than $30bn by 2030 respectively.”
The investment capital will also support further technology development to help transform microalgae industry production processes and reduce the cost of products.
The firm was co-founded by Dr Brian Miller and Dr Monika Tomecka, who said in a joint statement: “We’re thrilled to havesecured this significant investment, which will drive forward this next stage of our growth.
“The support from our investors is a testament to the impact and potential of our innovative technology. These funds will ensure we can bring our solutions to market more rapidly, particularly the microalgae and bio-separation within biopharma sectors, and enable Fraction8 to continue its innovation withinthe alternative protein sector.”
Rubina Singh, Senior Investment Manager at Foresight, said: “We are delighted to besupporting Monika and the uFraction8 team in bringing this breakthrough technology to market.
“At Foresight, we’re committed tosupporting pioneering technologies for a sustainable future. uFraction8’s advancements in continuous bioprocessing present transformative opportunities across multiple industries and we are excited to help the company achieve further impact in their important work.”
Kerry Sharp, Director of Entrepreneurship and Investment at Scottish Enterprise, said: “Scottish Enterprise has supported uFraction8’s ambition over several years to develop and commercialise its highly innovative technology to enable its customers to produce more efficient and scalable manufacturing of bio-based products.
“The biotech industry is a key opportunity area for growth for Scotland. Companies such as uFraction8 can play a vital role in transforming our economy by scaling-up, creating high value jobs and competing internationally.”