Seventure Partners has injected $5.2m into the Sanger Institute spinout, which has now raised $15.2m from investors also including IP Group and Cambridge Innovation Capital.
Microbiotica, a UK-based microbiome-based therapeutics spinout of Wellcome Sanger Institute, raised £4m ($5.2m) in funding today from venture capital firm Seventure Partners.
Founded in 2016, Microbiotica is commercialising research into the role that bacteria living in the human gut play in a wide range of conditions, from cancer and infections to neurological, automimmune and metabolic disorders.
The spinout’s pipeline currently includes drug candidates targeting inflammatory bowel disease, immuno-oncology and Clostridium difficile infection, which can be caused by medication such antibiotics and results in symptoms including diarrhea and fever.
Microbiotica was co-founded by chief executive Mike Romanos, chief scientific officer Trevor Lawley and Gordon Dougan. Lawley and Dougan are both researchers at Sanger Institute.
Iain Wilcock, venture partner at Seventure, will join the spinout’s board of directors.
Microbiotica previously raised $10m in funding from Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), the patient capital fund of University of Cambridge, and commercialisation firm IP Group in 2016.
Isabelle de Cremoux, chief executive of Seventure Partners, said: “We have watched Microbiotica make dramatic progress in implementing its vision and believe the company has developed a powerful set of capabilities for biomarker and therapeutic discovery in the microbiome field.
“We believe that the company has the potential to become a global leader in this fast-growing area, led by a strong and ambitious management team with considerable depth of expertise and experience, and are excited to be involved in helping realise this potential.”
