Private equity firm Calculus Capital, a leading EIS and VCT specialist, has invested £2.5m in Axol Bioscience (Axol).
Cambridge-based Axol supplies high quality human cells – especially live human neurons – created by stem cell technology, to many of the world’s biggest and best-known pharma companies and research institutions.
The cells, generated from blood and tissue cells extracted from healthy and diseased patients, are used for medical research, disease modelling and drug development. The company’s client list includes top global pharmaceutical and biotech companies as well as leading academic institutes, such as Harvard University, King’s College London, and Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
Alexandra Lindsay of Calculus said: “Axol Bioscience is doing very important work; its products and services – stem cells and the culture systems required to maintain them – are essential to gene-based medical research. Our investment will enable Axol to grow and develop more product lines that are able to make a real and effective contribution to medical research efforts to combat killer diseases.”
Axol was founded in 2012 by its chairman Jonathan Milner, PhD, a biotech entrepreneur, and CEO Yichen Shi, PhD.
Dr Shi said: “The market for our products is growing rapidly, all around the world, and the funding from Calculus will help us to make the most of that opportunity through new product development and increasing our sales and marketing capabilities.”
