Biotech Startup Raises €1 Million To Commercialize Droplet Microfluidics Technology
Droplet Genomics, a Lithuanian biotech startup, has announced that it had raised a total of €1M in a Seed funding round led by Practica Capital, with contribution from Angel investors, reports startuplithuania.com.
Droplet Genomics is a Lithuanian biotech startup that aims to commercialize droplet microfluidics technology. Owing to its unparalleled throughput, droplet microfluidics enables researchers to study single cells and single molecules. Experiments performed at such resolution, allow scientists to uncover new facets of human biology, diseases and speed up drug discovery research. Droplet Genomics develops hardware systems, consumables and software solutions. They intend to create easy to use workflows that would enable researchers to tap into the potential of droplet microfluidics technology for studying complex biological systems, as well as high-throughput screening applications.
“When observing scientific advances one can clearly see the trend of microfluidic technologies penetrating more and more areas of research. With the help of these technologies, a map of human cells and diseases is currently being developed, the response of immune cells to covid-19 infection is being investigated, and therapeutic antibodies against various diseases are being discovered, just to name a few. Overall, microfluidic technology has made it possible to perform complex biomedical tests, or molecular biology and biochemical reactions, faster, cheaper and with increased sensitivity as compared to traditional methods where reactions are performed in tubes or plates. It is therefore clear that in the future, the importance and applicability of products based on microfluidic technologies will only increase in various fields,” said co-founder prof. Linas Mažutis (PhD).
This investment will enable Droplet Genomics to expand its intellectual property portfolio and accelerate the commercialization of new products. The startup is actively developing novel products and plans to release an integrated system for high-throughput screening applications in Q1 2021. This new addition to the product portfolio will complement an already existing integrated system for droplet microfluidics research. Droplet Genomics main clients are universities, research institutes and biotechnology companies located in Europe and USA.
According to Droplet Genomics CEO and co-founder Juozas Nainys (PhD), the main two reasons behind the decision to work with Practica Capital are their many years of experience in investing in early-stage startups and the results achieved-to-date with other companies.
“We are pleased with this new partnership with Practica Capital, whose insights and knowledge, especially in business development, have already helped Droplet Genomics to accelerate its growth and be more effective,“ said Juozas Nainys.“The long-term vision of the team is very ambitious, aiming to enable personalized medicine. These are global challenges. We know that it will take a longer time for Droplet Genomics to achieve its goals. Thus our challenge is not only to stay patient but also to help make those first steps, attract additional expertise and work with regional and global venture capital partners today, to ensure timely and sufficient financing in the future. We appreciate the trust of Juozas, Linas and the rest of the team in us and the partnership achieved,” said Donatas Keras, Partner at Practica Capital.
About Droplet Genomics
Droplet Genomics was founded in 2016 and aims to commercialize droplet microfluidics technology. The startup is developing new technological solutions for high-throughput analysis of biological samples. Droplet Genomics innovations allow researchers to perform complex biological system analysis and drug discovery research faster and more effectively. In the future, the startup aims to apply its innovations in droplet microfluidics technology for personalized medicine applications in complex disease diagnostics. Find out more: https://dropletgenomics.com
About Practica Capital
Founded in 2011, Practica Capital is a dedicated Baltic VC focusing on investments in the Baltics (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) and Baltic-origin ventures in Europe. The company invests in seed, late seed and Series A ventures backing great teams behind the tech-driven businesses from the region and partnering with them as company builders. Practica Capital manages three venture capital funds with a total size of more than €50M. The latest Practica Venture Capital II Fund was established in the framework of the financial instrument Development Fund I, managed by Invega and financed from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). To date, Practica Capital has made more than 55 investments, including the most prominent Lithuanian start-up ecosystem companies such as TransferGo, Trafi, CGtrader, NanoAvionics, Ziticity, Interactio, PVcase and others.
