Emulate Secures $28 Million Series B Financing to Commercialize its Organs-on-Chips Technology
Boston based Emulate has announced that it has secured $28 million of its Series B financing that will accelerate translation of its Organs-on-Chips technology into a commercially available "˜Human Emulation System'. The lab-ready automated system "” which includes Organ-Chips, instrumentation and software apps "” enables researchers and product development teams to work with a human-relevant system in their existing R&D workflows. The Organs-on-Chips technology offers the potential for greater precision and control than today's cell-culture or animal-based experimental methods.
The Series B funding will position Emulate to accelerate its R&D effort, expedite the launch of its products and expand strategic relationships with industry and academic partners in order to evolve the company towards profitability. The financing includes a diverse syndicate of investors selected from the innovative life sciences and technology investment communities, including existing investors Hansjörg Wyss, NanoDimension and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, as well as new investors: OS Fund; Atel Ventures; ALS Finding a Cure, a program of the Leandro P. Rizzuto Foundation; and a fourth new unnamed investor.
Proceeds of the financing will be used to advance Emulate's product design and development across a range of activities, including:
"¢ Launch of the Human Emulation System as an automated product suite that includes Organ-Chips, instrumentation hardware, and software applications "” the plug-and-play system will allow end users to easily conduct experiments within their own labs, without requiring specialized expertise. The system also allows higher throughput, customizable and human-relevant studies.
"¢ Expansion of the Organ-Chip portfolio to extend beyond the lung, liver, intestine, and skin for additional organs such as kidney, heart, and brain.
"¢ Acceleration of disease-state applications for Organ-Chips, to gain further understanding of mechanisms of diseases in key areas of focus for industry "” including neurodegenerative diseases, oncology, intestinal diseases and the microbiome, and infectious diseases.
"This financing positions Emulate to advance our Organs-on-Chips to the next stage of commercial development, so that our technology can operate as a plug-and-play system in the hands of product development teams at pharmaceutical, chemical, food, and consumer products companies," said James Coon, Chief Executive Officer of Emulate. "Based on our active R&D collaborations with industry and academic leaders, we recognize the broad potential for our Human Emulation System to help accelerate development cycles and improve products, as well as opening up new opportunities for disease understanding and personal health applications. With this financing "” and the support of a group of such high-quality investors who share our vision "” we are commercializing our system and products to pursue a wide range of applications for the Organs-on-Chips technology, to enable positive impact throughout many industries."
