Semarion raises £2.9m from Parkwalk and others to scale cell assay platform
Parkwalk led the round to help the University of Cambridge spinout expand its manufacturing and commercial reach.
Share allotment filed at Companies House
Cambridge-based Semarion is a Cavendish Laboratory spinout that combines materials engineering with cell biology to improve drug discovery workflows.
Semarion has secured £2.9m in a funding round led by Parkwalk to scale manufacturing and commercial operations for its SemaCyte platform. The company aims to address inefficiencies in drug discovery by converting adherent cells into barcoded microcarriers that function like reagents.
Additional backing for the round came from The FSE Group, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Oxford Innovation Finance, Found Capital, Cambridge Capital Group, and Start Codon. The capital will be used to increase production capacity, enhance customer support, and build out partnerships with life-science tools providers in the US and Europe.
The firm's technology has already been adopted by several major pharmaceutical companies and integrated into automated systems by partners such as Revvity and SPT Labtech. Founders Jeroen Verheyen, Tarun Vemulkar, and Russell Cowburn established the business in 2018 following research at the University of Cambridge.
Use of funds
- 01Expand into international markets
- 02Build out infrastructure
Investors
Parkwalk
The FSE Group
Cambridge Enterprise
Oxford Innovation Finance
Found Capital
Cambridge Capital Group
Start Codon