Axol Bioscience Ltd. (Axol), an established provider of iPSC-derived cells, media, and characterization services for life science discovery, today announced that it has raised £3.2 million GBP (circa $4.2 million USD) in the extension of its previous funding round, bringing the total raised to £7 million GBP (circa $9.2 million USD). The round was led by existing investors Calculus Capital, Par Equity and Scottish Enterprise, with support from Meltwind, including early investor Dr Jonathan Milner.

The funds will be used to bring new human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) products and service solutions for cardiac, neuroscience, and immune cell modeling to the drug discovery and screening markets, including Axol’s recently developed comprehensive in vitro proarrhythmia assay (CiPA)-validated human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. Funding will enable Axol to further optimize cell culture quality and iPSC manufacturing capabilities at its Edinburgh, UK, site based at the Roslin Institute, as well as support recruitment efforts to expand its commercial team. It will also facilitate the continued development of the Company’s digital platform.

Liam Taylor, CEO, Axol Bioscience, commented: “At Axol, we’re setting a new standard in iPSC quality and manufacture. This investment enables us to continue to build and apply our quality-driven mindset to develop robust, reliable, ready-to-use iPSCs for pre-clinical R&D and drug development, as well as to focus on the expansion of our commercial team.”

Dr Jonathan Milner, Investor and CEO, Meltwind, said: “Axol is well positioned in the global iPSC market to support advances in drug screening and discovery. We look forward to the Company’s future iPSC product developments, poised to provide more physiologically relevant and consistent human disease models and screening assays to, ultimately, progress next-generation therapies for neuroscience and cardiac diseases to the clinic, faster.”

For further information about Axol, please visit: www.axolbio.com