Finnadvance completes 550k€ seed round led by Voima Ventures and Finnish biotech business angels
Oulu, Finland. Finnadvance, a Finnish biotech startup from Oulu Finland announces today it 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 manufactures multi-channel 3-D microfluidic organ-on-a-chips that simulate the activities, mechanics and physiological response of entire organs and organ systems. In short, the company simulates the human body’s physiology on a microfluidic device, where small tissue and organ fragments are grown for molecule and drug testing. The technology allows more human-like pre-clinical drug testing, fast repurposing of old drugs and in the long term development of personalized therapies and medicines.
Finnadvance’s vision is that organ-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. ” says Prateek, the CEO of 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“, says Inka Mero, Managing Partner of Voima Ventures.
About Finnadvance
Finnadvance is a microtechnology and 3D biology solution company based in Oulu, Finland. Finnadvance is developing microfluidic organ-on-chips for pharmaceutical drug research and development.
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 European Investment Fund (EIF). The Voima Ventures fund is supported by InnovFin Equity, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe. The purpose of EFSI is to help support financing and implementing productive investments in the European Union and to ensure increased access to financing. We are also backed by Finnish private and institutional investors.
