Award & Investment Overview
Bit.bio, a University of Cambridge spinout specializing in human cell engineering, has raised $50 million in a new funding round to support global expansion and product growth. The round is led by M&G with a $32 million equity investment, alongside a $20 million venture debt facility provided by BlackRock. The financing strengthens Bit.bio’s position as one of Europe’s most well-capitalized university-derived biotechnology companies.
As part of the round, Lord Prior of Brampton, former UK health minister and former chairman of NHS England, has joined the company as chairman, reinforcing Bit.bio’s leadership bench as it scales internationally and prepares for future growth stages.
Approach & Ecosystem Context
Founded by Professor Mark Kotter of the University of Cambridge, Bit.bio became an independent company in 2016 and has since raised more than $200 million from a mix of global venture capital, strategic investors, and institutional capital. The company reflects Cambridge’s long-standing strength in translating neuroscience and life sciences research into venture-scale companies.
This latest round highlights the role of patient institutional capital in enabling European university spinouts to scale independently rather than exiting early through acquisition. M&G’s participation, through its long-term with-profits fund, signals increasing alignment between pension-backed capital and university-originated deep tech ventures.
Innovation & Technology
Bit.bio’s platform enables the consistent, scalable production of human cell types for research and drug discovery. Over the past year, the company has focused on generating ten standardized human cell types relevant to central nervous system research, with plans to expand into hundreds of additional commercially relevant cell types.
The technology is designed to reduce reliance on animal testing while improving the predictive power of preclinical drug development. Bit.bio has also demonstrated the versatility of its platform through collaborations such as the creation of a “biological computer” using lab-grown human neurons, a development that underscores the broader implications of engineered human cells beyond traditional therapeutics.
Potential Market Applications
• Drug discovery and development: Provide reproducible human cell models that improve target validation, toxicity testing, and clinical trial success rates while reducing dependence on animal models.
• Central nervous system research: Enable scalable access to specialized human neural cell types for neuroscience research and neurodegenerative disease studies.
• Advanced bio-compute and research platforms: Support emerging applications that combine engineered human cells with data science and compute systems for novel research and analytical use cases.
Read the Full Story: https://www.thetimes.com/business/entrepreneurs/article/m-g-50m-funding-round-cambridge-bio-spinout-enterprise-network-vkqqm3wdw
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