CryoLogyx Completes £500k Seed Funding Round

PRESS RELEASE

18 March 2024

CryoLogyx Completes £500k Seed Funding Round

• Funding round led by private UK business angels and the Wider Oxford Technology Angel Network
• Investment to support commercialization of pre-plated, assay-ready, cryopreserved cells for drug discovery, diagnostic and cell therapy applications
• CryoLogyx to showcase innovative cryopreservation technology at ELRIG Research & Innovation 2024

Coventry, UK, 18 March 2024: CryoLogyx, a University of Warwick spinout redefining cell technology through cryopreservation, today announced the close of its oversubscribed seed funding round. The £500k GBP investment came from private UK business angels and the Wider Oxford Technology Angel Network (WOTAN), which includes previous investors Oxford Technology Management. The funding will be used to support commercialization of the company’s innovative cryopreserved cell technology, scale up production of its assay-ready cells and expand its reach in the UK and Europe.

CryoLogyx was spun out from the University of Warwick in 2020 by CEO, Dr Tom Congdon and CSO, Prof Matt Gibson who developed a unique cryopreservation method* based on over a decade of research. The company provides assay-ready, cryopreserved cells conveniently plated in a variety of formats and optimized for in vitro research. Its proprietary macromolecule cryoprotectant technology, Cryoshield^™, significantly reduces post-thaw damage to allow for direct use of viable cells from the freezer in less than 24 hours, helping researchers save up to 90% of their time on routine cell culture tasks. CryoLogyx’s range of frozen, ready-to-use adherent cell lines offers scientists an efficient, reliable and cost-effective solution with enhanced reproducibility. This could help to support the development of new screening technologies and automation in drug discovery, as well as potential future diagnostic and cell therapy applications. Most recently, the ready-to-use cells enabled scientists at the Warwick Antimicrobial Screening Service to deliver a typical four-week project in four days.

The latest funding follows earlier investment from Oxford Technology Management and private investors, alongside a £300K grant from Innovate UK in 2021. It will allow CryoLogyx to expand its team and scale production of its pioneering cell-based assays to meet increasing demand from the UK and European markets. It will also support the company’s R&D programme, allowing it to accelerate the development and commercialization of new products and services, broadening its offering to existing and prospective customers, and opening up opportunities for global partnerships.

Dr Tom Congdon, CEO and Co-founder, CryoLogyx, said: “We are grateful to our business angel investors and WOTAN for their confidence and continued support in the company's growth. CryoLogyx is proud to be empowering scientists to conduct research more efficiently using our cryopreserved, assay-ready cells and this funding will help us scale operations to ensure we meet researchers’ needs and expand our reach into new markets.”

Dr Tim Hart, Director, Warwick Innovations, who is working with CryoLogyx to commercialize its technology, said: “This funding boost is testament to the company's potential and reflects the trust investors have in CryoLogyx’s vision and leadership. It’s a truly remarkable technology with the potential to significantly reduce the experimental burden on researchers and expedite the discovery of lifesaving diagnostics and therapies. I very much look forward to seeing the company continue to go from strength to strength.”

CryoLogyx will showcase current and upcoming innovative products at ELRIG Research & Innovation 2024 taking place from 20–21 March in Manchester, UK. Visit the team at booth TBBZ2 in the TechBio Breakthrough Zone to find out more.

For further information about CryoLogyx, please visit: https://cryologyx.com/

*Tomás et al., Assay-ready Cryopreserved Cell Monolayers Enabled by Macromolecular Cryoprotectants, Biomacromolecules (2022)

ENDS

Notes to Editors

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CryoLogyx

Dr Tom Congdon

Email: tom@cryologyx.com

Codon Communications

Dr Michelle Ricketts

Tel: +44 7789 053885

Email: michelle.ricketts@codoncommunications.com

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About CryoLogyx cryologyx.com

CryoLogyx is an early-stage biotechnology company, based in Coventry, UK, which is developing frozen ready-to-use cells for the medicines discovery, diagnostics and cell therapy industries. With our exclusive technology, we are revolutionizing the freezing, storage, and transportation of cells. Our innovation ensures the delivery of viable cells and cell therapies in the preferred format, ready for use whenever our users need them.

Follow @CryoLogyx on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

About WOTAN — the Wider Oxford Technology Angel Network https://www.oxfordtechnology.com/wotan 

For the last 30 years, Oxford Technology has operated a business angel network in that we have enabled the founders of businesses seeking capital, either to start or to expand, to present their investment cases to individual investors. Since 2012, our OT(S)EIS funds and OTEIS funds have made over 229 investments into 62 companies, with 52 still in the portfolio. Many of our companies are located in and around Oxford, so that our UK team can get actively involved with assisting them during their early years. Beyond that, our only portfolio constraint is that each company must incorporate genuinely novel science or technology: we invest in "proper" start-ups that can disrupt existing sectors or even create whole new ones. With the new legislation in place from January 2024, we have decided to formalize our network into WOTAN — the Wider Oxford Technology Angel Network. Both OT(S)EIS and WOTAN participated in the CryoLogyx investment.