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British Patient Capital announces £8m investment into Nuclera as part of a $75m Series C financing round

Press release 16 October 2024

British Patient Capital today announces it has made an £8m investment into biotechnology company Nuclera, as part of the company’s $75m Series C financing round.

The round was led by Elevage Medical Technologies, backed by Patient Square Capital, and joined by Cambridge Innovation Capital, Jonathan Milner, GK Goh, M&G Catalyst, E Ink Holdings, Michael D. McCreary, Uni Power Group, and Verve Ventures.

Nuclera is a biotechnology company accelerating protein expression and purification workflows through its benchtop protein system, eProtein Discovery™. Its mission is to support scientists to better human health by enabling rapid access to proteins required for drug discovery research.

The investment will enable the continued commercialisation of Nuclera’s benchtop protein system, particularly in the US and across Europe. This 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 in less than 48 hours, compared to the months or years other methods can take. The system 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 organisations, 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 in Belgium, and the CRUK Cambridge Institute.

British Patient Capital is pleased to partner with Nuclera at a pivotal stage in their development and to support the team through their Series C financing. Nuclera has built an eProtein Discovery benchtop system, which reduces the time and cost of protein expression and purification. Their technology has the ability to rapidly advance protein projects for drug discovery laboratories, accelerating the development of new drugs and treatments for patients. Ian Connatty Deputy, Chief Investment Officer, British Business Bank
The UK is a world leader in life sciences and Nuclera is yet another example of how this country continues to push the boundaries of innovation. Nuclera’s eProtein Discovery benchtop system has the ability to greatly reduce the time and cost of protein expression and purification, a key bottleneck in biology and drug discovery. Carmine Circelli Director, Life Sciences, British Patient Capital
This significant investment demonstrates continued confidence in our team, our eProtein Discovery system, and our potential to revolutionise 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. Dr Michael Chen CEO and co-founder, Nuclera

Further Information

Notes to editors

About British Patient Capital

British Patient Capital Limited is a wholly owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the UK government’s economic development bank. Its mission is to enable long-term investment in innovative firms led by ambitious entrepreneurs who want to build large-scale businesses. Launched in June 2018, British Patient Capital has more than £3bn of assets under management, investing in venture and venture growth capital to support high growth potential innovative UK businesses in accessing the long-term financing they require to scale up. Find out more here.

British Business Bank plc and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. They are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

British Patient Capital makes commitments and invests on its own behalf and on behalf of third-party investors whose investments British Patient Capital manages.

The transaction described above does not constitute or imply any endorsement, warranty or recommendation by the UK government, the British Business Bank plc, its subsidiaries or any other party in respect of Nuclera or its products or services.

About Nuclera

Nuclera’s mission is to support scientists to better human health by enabling rapid access to proteins required for drug discovery research. The Company’s eProtein Discovery™ benchtop system accelerates protein expression and purification workflows within research labs.

The system reduces the timelines and costs associated with protein expression and purification through automated construct screening to inform protein scale-up resulting in mg amounts in less than 48 hours. Integrating digital microfluidics, protein quality assays, and cell-free protein synthesis on eProtein Discovery cartridges, eProtein Discovery enables rapid access to even challenging proteins at high quality. Founded in 2013, Nuclera’s offices are located in Cambridge (UK) and Boston (US).

For more information please visit: www.nuclera.com

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