Canadian tissue engineering firm 3D BioFibR has raised over $3.52 million in seed financing.
This funding might be used to broaden the corporate’s services to incorporate a local weather managed manufacturing cleanroom, and to convey its collagen fiber merchandise to market. Valued at $26 billion, the tissue engineering market is at present rising at a compound annual progress price of 35%.
This announcement follows the launch of the corporate’s two new collagen fiber merchandise for 3D bioprinting, μCollaFibR and CollaFibR 3D scaffold. These new choices are produced utilizing 3D BioFibR’s proprietary totally automated dry-spinning course of. That is mentioned to be the one course of able to producing high-quality, diameter-controlled collagen fibers at a business scale.
“We’re grateful for this funding because it accelerates our plan to satisfy the rising demand from tissue engineers for a premium 3D collagen scaffold that optimizes cell progress,” commented 3D BioFibR CEO Kevin Sullivan. “Our purpose is to make it extremely simple for researchers to develop their cells in environments that really resemble human tissues.”
The place has this funding come from?
The financing spherical was led by Make investments Nova Scotia with matching funding from Construct Ventures. Returning traders Concrete Ventures and Globalive Capital additionally supplied further funding throughout this spherical.
“We see nice market potential for 3D BioFibR’s premium collagen merchandise to be used in 3D cell tradition and tissue engineering purposes,” commented Patrick Keefe, basic accomplice of Construct Ventures. “We’re excited by the pace and talent with which they’re constructing out their manufacturing capabilities.”
“3D BioFibR’s best-in-class collagen fibers have the potential to make them a dominant participant within the mobile scaffolds section of the tissue engineering market,” added Dr Lidija Marusic, interim Vice President of Funding at Make investments Nova Scotia. “We’re happy to proceed to again the group behind such a novel platform expertise with many future purposes.”
3D BioFibR has additionally acquired further monetary help from the Authorities of Canada, which is offering a repayable $528,920 contribution by the Atlantic Canada Alternatives Company (ACOA). This funding is being supplied by ACOA’s Regional Financial Progress by Innovation (REGI) program. This contribution is ready to assist within the creation of a brand new moist lab and cell tradition facility.
“The Authorities of Canada is dedicated to serving to Atlantic entrepreneurs like 3D BioFibR scale-up as a result of when native companies succeed, they create jobs and options that profit all Canadians,” commented Andy Fillmore, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Trade and Member of Parliament for Halifax, on behalf of Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Official Languages and Minister chargeable for ACOA.
Moreover, 3D BioFibr is receiving advisory providers and analysis and growth funding of as much as $391,949 from the Nationwide Analysis Council of Canada Industrial Analysis Help Program (NRC IRAP). This help might be used to additional the event of the corporate’s automated collagen fiber manufacturing system.
3D BioFibr’s collagen fiber choices
Final month, 3D BioFibR introduced the launch of μCollaFibR (pronounced micro-CollaFubR) and CollaFibR 3D scaffold. These new off-the-shelf merchandise are mentioned to supply important benefits for tissue engineering and tissue tradition purposes.
The corporate claims that these merchandise are “greatest in school” from a energy, diameter, and high quality perspective, precisely recreating the pure look, construction, and performance of collagen fibers. 3D BioFibR’s dry-spinning manufacturing course of can be mentioned to be a minimum of 3,600x quicker than competing processes. This makes the corporate’s collagen fibers extra accessible to a rising variety of bio-medical purposes, permitting corporations to scale their 3D bioprinting manufacturing processes.
μCollaFibR is a bioink additive for laboratory 3D bioprinting of tissue and organ fashions. This product mimics the physique’s mobile scaffolds, performing like a organic rebar in bioinks used to 3D print dwelling tissue. Thus, as soon as added to bioinks, μCollaFibR enhances the mechanical sturdiness of 3D printed tissue. This enables a number of cell layers to be 3D printed layer-by-layer, facilitating the manufacturing of extremely practical tissue and organ fashions.
Alternatively, CollaFibR 3D scaffold is designed to be used with 3D cell cultures, enabling researchers to review mobile reactions in a extra physiologically related atmosphere than conventional 2D cultures. Through the use of GMP kind 1 collagen, this product produced a constant collagen fiber matrix. This extra carefully resembles the biochemical and biomechanical properties of pure mobile environments.
Funding in 3D bioprinting
3D bioprinting is actually a rising space inside additive manufacturing, and is attracting extensive ranging funding. Earlier this yr it was introduced that Biopharmaceutical gear provider Sartorius had acquired a ten% stake in 3D bioprinting innovator BICO. Alongside the share acquisition, value €45 million, the 2 corporations additionally introduced a partnership which can see them collaborate on R&D initiatives and the event of ‘digital options for cell line growth workflows.’
Final yr, Spanish 3D bioprinting firm Regemat 3D additionally introduced substantial funding, elevating over €500,000 in fairness crowdfunding. By means of this funding spherical, the corporate gained backing from over 500 traders, supporting plans to speed up the advertising and growth of its proprietary 3D bioprinting expertise. The corporate has claimed that, with additional R&D, its portfolio might allow the creation of practical, customized 3D printed tissues.
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Featured picture exhibits μCollaFibR by 3D BioFibR. Photograph by way of 3D BioFibR.
