Series A8 June 2020

Qkine secures £1.5m series A funding led by Parkwalk to scale commercial operations

Parkwalk led the series A round with participation from life science investors and angels to fund international expansion and senior hires.

£1.5MSeries A

Qkine develops and manufactures high-purity recombinant growth factors, cytokines and other bioactive proteins for stem cell and regenerative medicine applications.

Cambridge-based Qkine has secured £1.5m in a series A funding round led by Parkwalk. The financing was supported by a syndicate of life science investors and angel backers, including Jonathan Milner, Martlet Capital and o2h ventures, alongside contributions from existing supporters such as Cambridge Enterprise. The capital will be deployed to accelerate the global scale-up of commercial operations across Europe, Asia and the US, expand the product portfolio and make key appointments to the leadership team.

From the founder

"Given the challenging circumstances that our industry is currently facing in light of the coronavirus pandemic, we are delighted by the proactive and overwhelming support that we – a UK-based life science manufacturing company – have received from both our existing and new investors. This is not only a testament to the company’s success to date but also highlights the critical need for improving growth factor and cytokine quality within the industry. As we enter the exciting next phase of our growth, we look forward to drawing on the strength of our investor base as we build a leading global supplier of high-quality proteins to support scientists advancing stem cell, organoid and regenerative medicine."

Catherine Elton

CEO and Co-Founder at Qkine

Investor perspective

"There is a clear market need for high-quality protein reagents, especially for applications in stem cell biology and organoid research. Qkine has both a compelling technology to meet this need and a highly experienced management team to drive the growth of the business."