Finnadvance, a Finnish biotech startup from Oulu has closed a seed round of 550k€ led by deep tech fund Voima Ventures and Finnish biotech business angels Leena Niemistö and Sauli Törmälä. Company’s earlier investor is Icebreaker VC seed fund.
Finnadvance is a microtechnology and 3D biology solution company that develops microfluidic organ-on-chips for pharmaceutical drug research and development. Finnadvance’s vision is that organs-on-chips will significantly speed the development of new drugs, as well as minimize the need for animals in drug development and toxin testing. Established in 2018 December, Finnadvance has already established joint research and collaboration with partners and customers such as the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, Orion Pharma, University of Helsinki, University of Eastern Finland, Tampere University, VTT Oulu, UPM Biomedicals, the Biobank of Eastern Finland and SMEs, Kaivogen, Timegate Instruments, Bionavis, and Afekta.
‘Our goal at Finnadvance is to create a body-on-a-chip which could be used to test medications and treatments before they are administered to a patient. This way performance of different medications and treatments could be tested in advance and the patient would receive only the best, most suitable medication for them. Selecting the right medication with organ- or body-on-chips both speeds up the process substantially and greatly improves the safety as well as patient outcomes. Futuristic, but this can be a reality in 3-5 years! This funding round boosts Finnadvance’s plans for rapid organic growth in the Oulu area and we hope to provide job opportunities at different skill levels in a rapidly developing biotech start-up environment,’ said Prateek Singh, CEO at Finnadvance.
‘We at Voima Ventures are eager to see how a company like Finnadvance can change the way the drug testing is perceived and executed. There is a tremendous effect of such innovations on one person’s life and later nations. Welcome to Voima ventures family, Finnadvance team,’ concluded Inka Mero, Managing Partner at Voima Ventures.
About Voima Ventures
Voima Ventures is a €40M deep tech fund that invests purely in startups with deep tech and scientific backgrounds. Voima Ventures’ mission is to solve major global problems by combining science, entrepreneurship, and capital. Industry domains include bio and new materials, medical technologies and life sciences, imaging and optics, IoT and electronics, robotics, software & ICT and AI. In addition, Voima Ventures is managing a portfolio of VTT Ventures with 20 prominent deep tech companies including Solar Foods, Paptic, and Dispelix. Cornerstone investors are VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the European Investment Fund (EIF), backed by Finnish private and institutional investors.
Contact person
Prateek Singh
CEO, Finnadvance
science@finnadvance.com
Source: Finnadvance