Cambridge biotech start-up SolasCure has completed a Series A investment round to support the development of its wound cleaning product, Aurase®.
It raised £15 million with funding from industry veterans as well as institutional venture and strategic investors.
SolasCure is developing proprietary technology leveraging biomimicry and evidence-based medicine to empower health care professionals to treat patients with chronic wounds.
Its first investigational product, Aurase®, is a hydrogel containing an enzyme cloned from medical maggots that can be used to support healthcare professionals treating patients with chronic wounds.
Dr Sam Bakri, founder and CEO of SolasCure said: “We are delighted to have completed our Series A round, which will help us to move onto the clinical trial stages of product development.
“We are excited to be working with such knowledgeable and specialist investors as they join us on our mission to support healthcare professionals with wound care products that significantly improve the health and wellbeing of patients with chronic wounds.”
The raise began with investment from BRAIN Biotech AG (Xetra:BNN), which is SolasCure’s largest shareholder.
Adriaan Moelker, CEO BRAIN Biotech AG, said: “It has been an encouraging sign for all partners that SolasCure has been able to successfully close another financing round with rising pre-money valuation during the pandemic. We continue to be committed to support SolasCure on its way to market for the innovative wound debridement enzyme Aurase®.”
The round was completed following investment by Seneca Partners, an investment management business based in the UK. Matt Currie, investment director at Seneca said: “The team SolasCure has brought together are truly world-class, producing ground-breaking work in the wound care sector.
“Practitioners are crying out for a high-quality solution that can be transported, stored, and administered in an efficient and effective way, something severely lacking in the treatments available at present. We believe SolasCure’s Aurase product has the potential to become the go-to solution in this space.”
Other notable investors to date include Bionova Capital, Cambridge serial entrepreneur Jonathan Milner (founder of Abcam), strategic investor EVA Pharma, the Development Bank of Wales, and François Fournier – former lead of Smith & Nephew’s Advanced Wound Care division. The GS Verde Group acted as advisers to the raise.
