NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Single-cell technology firm Sphere Fluidics today announced the completion of a $2.5 million investment round.
24Haymarket led the round. Other investors included the Royal Society Enterprise Fund, Cambridge Enterprise, Providence Investment, the University of Cambridge Enterprise Fund, the London Business Angels Roundtable EIS Fund, and individual investors.
Based in Cambridge, UK, Sphere Fluidics develops products and services for single-cell analysis. Its technology was developed at Cambridge University, and the company has developed a platform called Cyto-Mine for single-cell analysis and characterization that enables the discovery and development of new biopharmaceuticals and cell therapies, as well as new strategies for studying single-cell diseases, such as cancer, the firm said.
Its biochip systems automatically processes millions of miniaturized tests in picodroplets, allowing for the discovery of rare molecules that could form the basis of new "blockbuster" drugs, according to Sphere.
"We are very pleased to close this round as it gives us the resources to further develop our business," Frank Craig, CEO of Sphere, said in a statement.
Sphere is part of a small but growing list of companies, including Fluidigm, NanoString Technologies, and Agilent Technologies, operating in the single-cell 'omics space.
GenomeWeb Daily News' sister publication BioArray News reported earlier this week that Fluidigm plans to expand the number of applications for its C1 Single-Cell Auto Prep Systems and to create new single-cell genomics research centers with partners in order to leverage growing interest in single-cell research.