Biosciences spinout secures six-figure funding to create new North East jobs

A spinout enterprise from Durham University has secured six-figure funding for the development of its bioscience proposition.

Magnitude Biosciences has closed a second round of investment, making a total of £375k invested by the North East Innovation Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Northstar Ventures, and Saker Capital.

Magnitude Biosciences offers contract research services in the field of ageing and age-related disease.

At the end of 2018, the firm raised £150k in seed investment from Northstar Ventures and Saker Capital, which allowed the company to serve its first customers, validate its technology, and develop a range of automated assays.

With the latest round of funding, the company aims to expand both the number and scale of automated assays offered, as well as increasing its revenues and expanding its workforce.

Magnitude Biosciences chief executive David Weinkove commented: “This further investment from Northstar Ventures and Saker Capital is a big vote of confidence in the potential for Magnitude Biosciences to disrupt ageing research and drug discovery for age-related disease.

“It enables us to expand our team to provide services to worldwide academic and biotech research labs, who will benefit from our professional approach and novel technology.”

Alex Buchan from Northstar Ventures added: “One of the things that attracted us to Magnitude in the first place was the multidisciplinary team, bringing together biologists and physicists.

“From what we have seen during the past year, there is real potential in Magnitude to grow a significant business bringing high-quality jobs to the North East, which is why we have invested in this second round.”

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