Yield Lab Europe led the pre-Series A round, which will fund international expansion and team growth.
"We’ve spent the past 18 months developing our platform and validating peptide candidates with expert third parties and commercial partners. We’re really excited by the results and feel that we’re ready to take the next step towards commercialising our technology. With the issue of food security, and effective crop protection becoming an increasingly pressing issue for the agriculture industry and governments worldwide, there is an urgent need for sustainable environmentally-friendly alternatives to current synthetic pesticides. We’re confident that our technology provides the solution and has the potential to make a huge impact."
The investment round was backed jointly by MOL Drybulk and Scottish Enterprise.
"MOL is committed to decarbonisation within our industry and Scotland is at the forefront of many environmentally friendly solutions, whilst our investment in Smart Green Shipping furthers our commitment to the UK."
— Kazuhiko Kikuchi, President and Representative Director
The funding round was backed by a group of existing investors alongside a grant from the European Innovation Council.
"This is a very significant funding milestone in our mission to detect cancer early and improve survival and quality of life for patients. Having demonstrated our multi-cancer capability, we can now focus on building the pipeline of organ-specific tests, beginning with a multi-center study to gain regulatory approval for the brain cancer test. We will also expand our data on colorectal cancer, one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and continue our work on collaborative projects."
The round was co-led by Clean Growth Fund and Foresight WAE Technology to support the commercialisation of semiconductor lasers.
"We are excited to be partnering with the Vector team as they pioneer a major revolution in laser technology. Lasers are ubiquitous, and we recognise the significant carbon savings that PCSELs can deliver by increasing energy efficiency across many applications. These efficiency savings are initially targeted at the large and growing emissions problem of datacentres, but the opportunity to deliver emissions savings is much wider. Clean Growth Fund was established to invest in the very best clean tech innovators across the UK and so we are delighted that Vector Photonics is our first investment in Scotland. The team combines world-leading technical and commercial expertise and we are excited to support one of the leading innovators in Scotland’s photonics ecosystem to address the climate crisis."
