  | MIMETAS, leader in organ-on-a-chip products and tissue models, has secured 20.5 million USD in financing from an international syndicate from Asia and Europe. MIMETAS will use the proceeds of this Series B financing round to expand its global commercial footprint with the OrganoPlate® organ-on-a-chip platform. In addition, the company will broaden its product portfolio, establish tissue production facilities, develop novel OrganoPlate® products and expand into clinical market segments, including personalized medicine. The company has operations in the Netherlands, USA and Japan. Investors are European Life Sciences Growth Fund (ELSGF, Singapore), Aglaia Oncology Fund II (the Netherlands), Korys (Belgium), Cathay Venture (Taiwan), InnovationQuarter and Oost NL (the Netherlands). Ginger Hsiao, fund manager of ELSGF, acting as spokeswoman for the syndicate: “From the start, we were impressed by MIMETAS’s technology and highly talented team. We consider the company as today’s leader in the organ-on-a-chip space with tremendous growth potential in the coming years. Its customer base already includes leading multinationals from Europe, US and Asia and the adoption of the platform ranges from academic users to high-throughput screening facilities for pharmaceuticals. We are looking forward to supporting the MIMETAS team with their commercial expansion and addressing new markets.” “This strong investor base ticks all the boxes for MIMETAS in this phase of corporate development.”, according to founders Jos Joore and Paul Vulto, “Korys has solid expertise in product commercialization at the interface of hardware and biology, while Aglaia brings a wealth of clinical and oncology expertise to the company. ELSGF and Cathay will support the company in expanding in the Asian market. This is complemented with local support from Oost NL and InnovationQuarter.” You can read the full press release here. Click here for more information about MIMETAS. |
 MIMETAS has received 1.6 million USD funding for development of an organ-on-a-chip model for neurotoxicity. The aim of the project is to improve existing neurotoxicity tests and to reduce experimentation on animals. A panel of experts from BASF, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, Abbvie, NC3Rs and renowned academic institutions has selected the MIMETAS solution from a lineup of strong competitors. MIMETAS will lead the consortium, which also includes the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (Utrecht, The Netherlands) and Cellular Dynamics International (Wisconsin, USA).
“It is extremely rewarding for the MIMETAS team and our partners to win this prestigious project under strong competition”, says MIMETAS Managing Director Jos Joore, “It offers yet another stage to showcase the versatility of our organ-on-a-chip platform in this field with large unmet needs”. The funding is awarded in the context of the Neuratect CRACK IT Challenge to support development of better predictive, high-throughput, animal-free models for neurotoxicity of medicines and chemicals. The consortium will use the funds to develop, analyze and validate high-throughput neurotoxicity models using MIMETAS OrganoPlate™ technology with CDI’s iPS neurons. The resulting models will be applied to predict neurotoxicity and seizure induction, helping to reduce animal experimentation. The CRACK IT Challenge is organized by the UK-based National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs). In 2014, MIMETAS secured a 1.6-million-dollar NC3Rs project targeting kidney toxicity. More information about MIMETAS.  On Thursday December the 3rd, MIMETAS has won the annual contest for the GameChanger of the Year award. Magazine Management Team organized the contest for the third time in a row with former winners 2theloo and Coolblue.
A GameChanger is a visionary strategist in a leading position in mid-sized to large companies with ideas and power to change the game in his market and with proven success in revenues and results. More information about 'GameChanger' More information about MIMETAS.  ‘Ideas from Europe 'is a Dutch competition with the search for potentially successful companies in Europe, in partnership with governments, private partners and TEDx communities from the 28 EU Member States. The initiative from TedxBinnenhof aims to show that Europe’s future is in the hands of today’s innovative entrepreneurs. By sharing their ideas they will inspire and encourage people to use their entrepreneurial spirit and, in turn, become the lifeblood of Europe’s economy. The ten most inspiring Ideas from Europe with the potential to change the world have been selected by an International jury. These will be presented in full on March 31 2016 at the Knights Hall in The Hague. Jos Joore from Mimetas will represent the Netherlands.
More information about 'Ideas from Europe. More information about MIMETAS.  Together with Participatiemaatschappij Oost Nederland NV (PPM Oost), the Zeeuws Investment Fund invests in MIMETAS. MIMETAS is a company that develops and manufactures microfluidic chips equipped with cultured biological tissues. The investment is mainly used to further ensure development of the technology and to start production.
MIMETAS technology, so-called OrganoPlates™, is equipped with microfluidic chips with cultured biological tissues that mimic the structure and function of human organs. “Our organ models are more predictive than laboratory animals or standard two-dimensional cell cultures,” says Paul Vulto of MIMETAS. “This is because we grow human cells in a three dimensional environment, with a type of blood stream alongside. Furthermore, we can connect various tissues, allowing them to communicate with each other.” "The need for so-called ‘Organ-on-a-Chip’ models is growing", says Vulto. “The development of new medicine is a huge financial cost. In addition, medicine become increasingly more complex. Our organs on a chip make it possible to, at an early stage, predict the effect of medicine on people or a certain sub group of patients. This results in the removal of a significant portion of the development risk.” Together with Jos Joore, Vulto founded MIMETAS in Leiden in 2013. At the end of 2013, a cooperation agreement was signed with the listed pharmaceutical company Galapagos, which has great confidence in the future of MIMETAS. Richard Janssen, Senior Director of Target Discovery at Galapagos: “The MIMETAS platform is the first to combine organ-on-a-chip technology with our high throughput screening of primary human cells. As we see it, OrganoPlates make 3D culture as straightforward as traditional cell culture.” Johan Sebregts, director of the Zeeuws Investment Fund, is impressed with the technology and management of MIMETAS: “MIMETAS brings nanotechnology and biotechnology together in an innovative product, which tackles major social issues, such as animal testing and the ever-rising costs of medicine. This unique technology in combination with a highly experienced and expert management team gives us great confidence in realizing the potential of MIMETAS.” More information about MIMETAS. |