Cambridge, UK, 28 October 2021: Sphere Fluidics, a company that has developed and is commercialising single cell analysis systems underpinned by its proprietary picodroplet technology, announced today that it has closed a $40 million (circa £30 million) investment round. The round was led by Sofinnova Partners (Paris, France) and Redmile Group (San Francisco, USA) co-investing on equal terms.Sphere Fluidics will use the funding to enable the expansion of the Company’s international sales activities in key markets and improving its support for customers. Furthermore, it will expand its product research and development programs, including novel applications for its proprietary Cyto-Mine® Single Cell Analysis System.The Cyto-Mine is an automated cost-effective platform which integrates single cell screening, sorting, dispensing, imaging, and clone verification and has been purchased by an international customer base including global pharmaceutical companies, biotech, CDMOs, and leading research institutions. The platform can process millions of samples per day, assessing and isolating rare or valuable cell variants or biological products, to simplify and improve throughput across antibody discovery, cell line development and single cell diagnostics. The funds raised will support ongoing commercialization, broadening the technology’s adoption into new, innovative research areas such as cell therapy, synthetic biology and genome editing, in addition to ongoing enhancements of the platform’s capabilities and performance. In conjunction with the financing, Sofinnova’s Tom Burt and Redmile Group’s Rob Faulkner will join the Board.Andrew Mackintosh, Chairman of Sphere Fluidics commented: “This is a transformational investment from two of the most respected specialist investment funds in the industry and a recognition of the untapped potential of the pioneering product and market development carried out by the Company to date”.Frank Craig, CEO, Sphere Fluidics, commented: “This funding round is not only testament to the potential of Sphere Fluidics’ single cell analysis technology, but also to the expertise of our team. The investment will underpin our growth strategy, enabling us to expand both our product range and our support to new and existing customers, globally.Tom Burt, Partner, Sofinnova Partners, commented: “We remain impressed by Cyto-Mine’s high-throughput, ease-of-use and accessible cost. In the growing markets of monoclonal antibody discovery, cell line development and cell therapy, we see a significant need for such an affordable and reliable single cell analysis system as Cyto-Mine, capable of performing multiple assays on tens of millions of individual cells per run.”For more information about Sphere Fluidics, please visit: https://spherefluidics.com/For further information please contact:Sphere FluidicsDr. Frank F. CraigTel: +44 (0)7805 659566Email: frank.craig@spherefluidics.comZyme CommunicationsDr. Michelle RickettsTel: +44 (0)778 9053 885Email: michelle.ricketts@zymecommunications.comAbout Sphere Fluidics www.spherefluidics.comSphere Fluidics develops and manufactures single cell analysis and monoclonality assurance systems to enable leading edge research and accelerate biotherapeutic discovery and development. The Company’s picodroplet incubation technology enables ultra-sensitive, rapid miniaturized assays of target proteins secreted from tens of millions of individual cells. Sphere Fluidics’ Cyto-Mine® System integrates isolation, selective screening, sorting, imaging, and clone verification into a single automated platform to streamline workflows, reduce costs, improve throughput and enable high-value clones to be captured in a single run. Sphere Fluidics is located in Babraham Research Campus and Granta Park in Cambridgeshire (UK). The Company has also internationalized its business via a global network of distributors. Follow Sphere Fluidics on Twitter @SphereFluidics and LinkedIn @Sphere Fluidics Limited.About Sofinnova Partners www.sofinnovapartners.comSofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, specializing in healthcare and sustainability. Based in Paris, London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of professionals from all over the world with strong scientific, medical and business expertise. Sofinnova Partners is a hands-on company builder across the entire value chain of life sciences investments, from seed to later-stage. The firm actively partners with ambitious entrepreneurs as a lead or cornerstone investor to develop transformative innovations that have the potential to positively impact our collective future. Founded in 1972, Sofinnova Partners is a deeply-established venture capital firm in Europe, with 50 years of experience backing over 500 companies and creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over €2.5 billion under management. For more information, please visit: www.sofinnovapartners.comSource: https://spherefluidics.com/sphere-fluidics-closes-a-40-million-funding-round-led-by-sofinnova-partners-and-redmile-group/