Muckle advises Newcells Biotech on multi-million investment
Our corporate lawyers have advised Newcastle based hiPSC company Newcells Biotech on a £2m investment. Newcells have received £1.5m investment of growth capital from NVM Private Equity (NVM) alongside a £500,000 investment from existing investors Northstar Ventures.
Founded in 2015 and headquartered at the world-renowned ‘Centre for Life in Newcastle – an incubator space for young and established biotechnology companies – Newcells is a successful, early-stage, life-sciences spinout from Newcastle University, leading the way in the development of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) for efficacy and toxicity testing in the drug development sector.
Growing employees and products
The investment will be used to support expansion of the team and the development of new assays (test cells) replicating human organs or cells for the purposes of drug and cosmetic product development.
Newcells Biotech connected with NVM at the Entrepreneurs of the North 2017 event, organised by the Innovation SuperNetwork. The event offered an opportunity for North East companies to pitch to potential investors in London.
Tim Levett, Chairman of NVM Private Equity, said: "We have been impressed with the progress Newcells has made with Northstar Ventures and are delighted to be supporting such a high-calibre scientific team that have built an outstanding reputation in its field. We believe the business represents a first class platform for growth in an attractive and expanding niche of the healthcare sector, and NVM are looking forward to working with Newcells and Northstar to drive the business forward, whilst building an exciting next generation drug discovery process."
Building high-growth technology businesses
Dr Mike Nicholds, CEO of Newcells Biotech, said: "We are delighted at the successful conclusion of the investment, which will enable us to increase our development capacity and accelerate the commercialisation of our unique cell-based assays for drug safety and efficacy testing. NVM and our existing investor Northstar Ventures understand what it takes to build high-growth technology businesses and we look forward to continuing our strong relationship with their team."
Partner Anthony Evans and solicitor Stuart Grieve led the legal advice to Newcells.
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