Nobel prize winner raises £691,000 for stem cell research business

Sir Martin Evans won award for Medicine and Physiology in 2007.

Cell Therapy Limited, founded by Nobel prize winner Sir Martin Evans, has raised £691,000 through crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.

The money will be used to develop its breakthrough stem cell medicine Heartcel, which regenerates heart muscle to treat cardiac failure.

The amount raised is 277% of the campaign’s original target and was raised within 10 days of its launch. The 300 investors generated an imputed valuation of £75 million – a record for biotech crowdfunding.

Cell Therapy Limited was founded in 2009 by Evans, who won the Nobel prize in 20007 for his work on discovering stem cells. His co-founder was current CEO Ajan Reginald, former global head of emerging technologies at Roche Pharma. Former UK minister of trade and industry Lord Digby Jones also joined the business as both an investor and adviser in 2014.

Crowdcube co-founder Luke Lang commented that he was excited to see crowdfunders back “a sophisticated British biotech company like Cell Therapy”.

“The appetite to invest in businesses that address highly complex problems is increasing across alternative finance platforms,” he added.

Cell Therapy CEO Ajan Reginald called crowdfunding “the perfect way” for investors to get involved in providing funding for businesses that have the “potential to revolutionise medicine for everyone”.

Further reading on fundraising: Camden Town Brewery looks to crowdfund new London site

Praseeda Nair

Praseeda Nair

Praseeda was Editor for GrowthBusiness.co.uk from 2016 to 2018.

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