Nuclera, the biotechnology company accelerating protein expression and purification workflows through its benchtop protein system, today announced it has completed a USD $75 million financing round (circa £57 million). The fundraise was led by Elevage Medical Technologies, backed by Patient Square Capital, and joined by British Patient Capital, the largest domestic investor in UK venture and venture growth opportunities, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Jonathan Milner, GK Goh, M&G Catalyst, E Ink Holdings, Michael D. McCreary, Uni Power Group, and Verve Ventures. Taylor Wessing advised Nuclera on the transaction. The investment will enable the continued commercialization of Nuclera’s eProtein Discovery™ benchtop system, particularly in the US and across Europe.
Nuclera’s eProtein Discovery system is designed to speed up protein expression and purification in research labs, including those using AI for protein design. The system reduces the time and cost of these processes by automating construct screening, allowing for protein scale-up, and producing milligram amounts of protein in less than 48 hours, compared to the months or years other methods can take. Using digital microfluidics, protein quality assays, and cell-free protein synthesis on eProtein Discovery cartridges, eProtein Discovery provides rapid access to high-quality proteins at scale, whether using cell-free or cell-based methods.
The eProtein Discovery system has already been installed at contract research organizations (CROs), biotech and biopharma companies, as well as at leading academic institutes, including University College London, University of Cambridge, University of Southampton, University of Manchester, The Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) in Belgium, and the CRUK Cambridge Institute.
Dr Michael Chen, CEO and co-founder, Nuclera, said: “This significant investment demonstrates continued confidence in our team, our eProtein Discovery system, and our potential to revolutionize the way proteins are made. This funding will accelerate our mission to provide ready-to-use benchtop protein screening and making tools to empower protein scientists around the world. We are excited to enhance our support for our customers, enabling them to make proteins for drug discovery more efficiently and effectively for many years to come.”
Nuclera has developed a solution for one of the leading obstacles in drug discovery: access to proteins that are needed throughout the drug discovery process. The demand for Nuclera’s technology is expanding rapidly, as AI and structural biology continues to drive the pace of new discoveries in life sciences and drug development. Elevage is proud to support Nuclera and its leadership team as it continues to bring the eProtein Discovery System to drug discovery researchers across the globe to address their need for bespoke, rapid and convenient delivery of quality proteins.”
Dr Michael Wasserman, Chief Operating Officer, Elevage Medical Technologies
Dr Jonathan Milner, Chairman of the Nuclera Board of Directors, founder and former CEO of Abcam, Inc and CEO of Meltwind Advisory, added: “The ability to screen multiple protein expression profiles and print purified proteins in as little as 24 hours will revolutionize laboratory workflows and make a demonstrable impact in research and drug discovery timelines. Aligning with Nuclera more closely following my appointment as Chairman of the Board, I am excited as the Company’s pioneering solution continues to be recognized by the industry and demonstrated through this funding round.”
Generating mutated proteins through adversarial attacks on the AlphaFold2 model