Lab Thread secures £750k from Mercia Ventures and the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II to commercialise laboratory software.
The seed round was led by Mercia Ventures to support final product development and commercial rollout.
Lab Thread develops software to streamline research data management across office and laboratory environments. The platform combines DNA visualisation tools, sample inventory management, and experiment recording capabilities.
Biotech entrepreneur Ryan Cawood has secured £750k in seed funding for his new venture, Lab Thread, alongside former colleague Deyan Sultov. The capital was provided by the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II through fund manager Mercia Ventures, with additional backing from the British Business Bank. The fresh funds will allow the company to finalise software development and push its laboratory management platform toward commercialisation.
Lab Thread was established to address inefficiencies in research data recording, where smaller organisations often rely on fragmented tools such as paper notebooks and spreadsheets. The company seeks to provide an integrated platform featuring DNA visualisation and experiment tracking to simplify workflows for scientists. Mercia Ventures participated in the round following a long-standing professional relationship with Cawood, who previously founded OXGENE.
From the founder
"Research is highly complex and regularly takes unexpected turns but current software platforms often fail to allow this level of flexibility. As a result, researchers often resort to using paper or lose important data. Lab Thread aims to make their jobs easier by providing interfaces for both the office and lab, stripping out the paperwork and streamlining processes along the way."
Ryan Cawood
Founder and CEO at Lab Thread
Investor perspective
"Ryan and Deyan are passionate about solving the challenges of information management in laboratories as they know how critical it is for successful research. Through their combined experience, they are ideally placed to develop a solution. We believe that Lab Thread will tap into growing demand for laboratory software and could have a significant impact on the success of the life sciences sector."
Howard Mitchell
Mercia Ventures
Use of funds
- 01Continue product development
- 02Accelerate go-to-market
