UgenTec, a Belgium-based university spinout that has developed quick diagnostic software to replace manual DNA analysis, has raised €1.35m ($1.46m) from a consortium including the Flemish government-backed Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT).
IWT invested €250,000 into UgenTec while the remaining funds came from a group of Belgium investors (€1m) and a Belgium-based investment company LRM (€100,000).
Tom Martens, co-founder of UgenTec, said: “There’s an increasing demand for DNA analyses in laboratories, so they want to accelerate this process. They can automate the manual analysis of DNA with our software, and this is unique.”
UgenTec has been working with several accelerators and incubators to get its business started. It has followed the Health Accelerator coaching course at the Microsoft Innovation Center Flanders, and is also receiving support from the Belgium-based incubators iMinds, Bryo, EIT-ICT labs and Deloitte, and Netherlands-based incubator IWT.
The company plans to use the funds for international expansion, recruitment and the development of its software.
UgenTec’s DNA analysis system, FastFinder, was created by Wouter Uten after he finished work placement at a Dutch biotechnology company. That company became the first customer once Uten and Tom Martens created UgenTec.
