GE partner Synpromics completes financing round

Existing investors Calculus Capital, the Scottish Investment Bank, and private shareholders contributed to the €6.2m financing round. The Edinburgh-based company said it will use the funds to further develop and exemplify its PromPT synthetic promoter design platform that delivers synthetic promoters tailored to drive gene expression at a desired level and specificity.

According to the company’s business model, several partnerships have already been established to deliver synthetic promotors for biomanufacturing of biologics or gene therapies. In the biomanufacturing field, Synpromics has established partnerships with Sartorius Stedim Cellca and, in January 2017, with GE Healthcare to jointly develop customised synthetic promoters using its PromPT platform for extensive screening of CHO-based expression systems. In the gene/cell therapy area, the company is running partnerships with Dutch gene therapy provider uniqure, with Adverum Biotechnologies, and agtc.

 “Since our last fundraising round 18 months ago, the business has grown rapidly as we’ve signed more commercial partnerships with companies in the US and Europe,” said David Venables, CEO of Synpromics, who now wants to expand the market reach of the proprietary technology.

Alexandra Lindsay, Investment Director at Calculus Capital, added: “We have been delighted with the progress which Synpromics has made since we made our first investment some 18 months ago. They have a very strong team and the technology has been clearly validated through partnerships with some of the world’s leading gene medicine companies.” According to Synpromics, Calculus normally funds its portfolio companies with £2-2.5m.