Portal Biotech, a London-based biotechnology company, has secured $35 million in a Series A financing round. The funding represents one of the largest investments in a life sciences tools company in Europe. The oversubscribed round was co-led by NATO Innovation Fund and Earlybird Venture Capital.
Existing investors Science Creates Venture Capital, Pillar VC, 8VC, Amino Collective, and Outsized also participated. New investors included We Venture Capital, British Business Bank, and WS Investment Company. Portal Biotech is developing the world’s first full-length single-molecule protein sequencer.
The technology combines a proprietary nanopore-based platform with advanced artificial intelligence. The sequencer aims to provide rapid and cost-effective protein characterization. This could impact drug discovery, diagnostics, and global biosecurity by revealing intact protein structures and modifications at the single-molecule level.
The funds will be used to accelerate Portal Biotech’s commercialization efforts. The company also plans to expand its research and development and engineering teams.
Portal Biotech secures $35 million funding
Additionally, it will foster collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotech innovators. Portal Biotech’s technology offers capabilities in protein identification and characterization. It provides detail on protein structure and modifications at the single-molecule level on accessible desktop instruments.
These advances are essential for accelerating drug discovery and enhancing diagnostic precision. The platform delivers the world’s first technology for sequencing intact full-length proteins at the single-molecule level. Coupled with advanced AI methods, this data provides researchers a detailed view into the complexities of the proteome.
This lays the groundwork for new foundational AI models of the dynamic proteome. Portal Biotech’s benchtop platforms aim to transform proteomics into an agile, cost-efficient workflow that can be performed in any lab. Its instruments sidestep the expense and inaccessibility of traditional mass spectrometry.
Dr. Ana Bernardo-Gancedo, Senior Associate at NATO Innovation Fund, said, “Portal Biotech’s ability to characterize proteins at the molecular level onsite anywhere could help detect engineered biological threats faster and more accurately.”
Dr. Rabab Nasrallah, Principal at Earlybird Venture Capital, Health Fund, said, “We believe Portal Biotech is uniquely positioned to revolutionize protein analysis and sequencing in much the same way next-generation DNA sequencing revolutionized genomics.”