cytena Received EUR 1.1 Million of Seed Capital
Complete the form below to unlock access to ALL audio articles.
The cy-Clone, cytena’s newest innovation, is a laboratory device that enables the gentle separation of cells. In order to set up its marketing and distribution channels and to standardize its production processes, the company required start-up capital.
“During our fundraising we greatly benefitted from the fact that since 2010 our laboratory units have helped a number of our partners to simplify their processes. In addition, cytena has already been generating revenue”, says Jonas Schöndube, founding member and managing director of cytena, adding, “This very convincingly proved that there is a real need for our technology.”
The seed capital raised will enable the company to make the most of their technological advantage over competing technologies and to transition from producing each cy-Clone unit and its consumables individually to serial production. At the same time, cytena’s marketing and distribution channels will be widened more rapidly.
“Currently, we are in particularly close contact with cell line development units in the pharmaceutical industry e. g. for biologicals and with researchers in the field of single-cell analyses. Obviously, efficiency and cell viability are key, but quite often these customers also need to fulfill the requirements set by regulatory bodies such as the FDA,” says André Gross, founding member and technical director of cytena. “Our competitors’ systems are complex and expensive, and cannot prove clonality or safeguard against cross-contamination. In addition, a substantial amount of training is required to operate them. Users wanting to avoid all of these complications and inconveniences should use our unique technology.”
“The global market potential for single-cell technologies is estimated to top EUR 360 million. Moving forward, cytena will focus on further developing the platform technology for cancer and prenatal testing units as well as units for the production of cell therapeutic drugs. These areas of application will unlock a much larger market,” says Dr. Sebastian Schöfer, explaining HTGF’s reasoning to invest.
