Carroucell, a supplier of microcarriers for cell culture in bioreactors, has raised a total of €1.5M. The funding includes a Series A financing led by the Novalis Biotech Acceleration fund, with participation from Crédit Agricole des Savoie (CADS) and Bpifrance.
Fund usage
The funds will be used to accelerate the company’s growth by industrialising its platform technology and ramping up mass production processes to GMP standards.
Carroucell has created a technological platform that provides unique flat-shaped microcarriers with a glass-free composition for cell culture in bioreactors. In contrast to existing technologies, the combination of these novel microcarriers with the flexibility of the manufacturing process allows for a faster, more optimised scale-up of the clinical phases. This process may provide customers with a faster time to market and a more direct path to market.
“For the first time, microcarrier customization and a more customer-oriented service are available for the development of the new applications into the cell culture and bioproduction market. There are many challenges with biomanufacturing performance. We believe our unique microcarrier technology and ability to address customer specific needs will overcome most challenges and stimulate a revolution in the sector moving forward,” said Tarek Fathallah, Founder and President of Carroucell.
“Carroucell is creating a new standard in biomanufacturing, which could help to facilitate patient access to many more innovations in cell and gene therapy in the future,” said Jan Van den Berghe, co-founder and managing director of Novalis Biotech, who has also been appointed to the board of directors. “When customers adopt Carroucell’s technology platform, they are able to optimize the yield and the quality of the cell culture, solving the low-performance problem in bioproduction we see today.”
“The complex environment of cell culture in bioreactors and the increasing number of new applications requires an innovative approach to guarantee the balance of the system. Carroucell’s microcarrier plays the role of regulator of this system by ensuring its optimization,” said Takis Breyiannis, CEO of Carroucell.
Carroucell collaborated with Etablissement Français du Sang (EFS) to validate its microcarriers and facilitate the first commercial orders. Tarek Fathallah founded Carroucell in 2016.
Novalis Biotech (Ghent, Belgium) is an early-stage venture capital investor in healthcare-revolutionizing technologies. The company’s core competency is in life sciences digitalization, with a focus on bioinformatics, genomics, and diagnostics.
