Nuclera raises $42.5M in first close of Series B for desktop protein printer

February 2, 2022

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Nuclera's eProtein™ bioprinter will make proteins accessible to scientists

CAMBRIDGE, UK (02 Feb 2022) – Nuclera, a biotech company developing cutting-edge benchtop protein printing technologies, today announced that the first close of its Series B financing has raised $42.5 million. The funds raised will be used to accelerate the development and commercialization of its eProtein™ desktop bioprinter.

Nuclera’s ground-breaking protein printing technology has attracted many new and existing institutional and strategic investors in this financing round including M&G, Amadeus Capital Partners, E Ink, RT Partners, Future Planet Capital, British Business Bank Future Fund, and G. K. Goh.

Nuclera’s eProtein™ desktop bioprinter is a breakthrough rapid protein prototyping and discovery platform that enables protein printing in just 24 hours, significantly faster than existing methods of protein synthesis. The eProtein bioprinter is powered by the company’s eDrop™ digital microfluidic technology - a core enabling technology borne out of the company’s strategic partnership with E Ink. The technology has gained significant traction with customers in the pharmaceutical, biotech, agribiotech, and synthetic biology industries, which are already working with Nuclera to accelerate their innovation pipelines.

The eProtein desktop bioprinter will initially screen and print proteins for research and drug discovery customers, and the funding will also fast-track the company’s march towards developing an all-encompassing proteomics platform. This will provide Nuclera’s eProtein customers with an instrument that will unify protein expression and characterization. The all-in-one platform will increase scientific reproducibility, accelerate drug discovery, and contribute to the ever-expanding bio-economy.

“There’s a fundamental productivity problem in biotech today. A biotech scientist needs to know how to make proteins to design drugs. That’s like expecting a computer scientist to know how to build a computer to design software,” said Michael Chen, Co-founder and CEO of Nuclera. “Our eProtein desktop bioprinter makes it easy for scientists to access the proteins they need in a single day rather than the weeks, months, or even years it currently takes. The new financing and partners we are announcing today is a strong vote of confidence in our mission to increase the accessibility of the drug discovery and general bio-innovation process.”

Andrea Traversone, Managing Partner at Amadeus Capital Partners, added, “Nuclera’s eProtein platform unites the very fragmented workflow that currently exists in proteomics. Nuclera is bringing rapid prototyping—a concept that did not exist until now—to biotech, and by speeding up research and opening up completely new avenues of innovation, it will have a far-reaching impact in numerous markets. We have been very impressed with the quality of the team that Michael and his co-founders have assembled and the unique technology they are developing.”