i&i Bio Invests $1.5 Million in Sampling Human to Support the Development of Engineered Cells for Single Cell Analysis
12. 4. 2022
The team of Sampling Human.
Prague, Czech Republic – 12 April 2022. This year’s third i&i Biotech Fund (i&i Bio) investment goes to Sampling Human, an early stage Life Sciences technology company that has developed a diagnostic platform that harnesses genetically engineered cells to analyze other cells in their environment. Through synthetic biology, Sampling Human is modifying yeasts into “Living Information Technology” capable of detecting and classifying selected living cells (e.g.: cancer cells) in a sample of millions of other cells. The practical potential of this technology could transform diagnostic processes with liquid biopsy that is orders of magnitude faster, less expensive and more precise. i&i Bio’s investment will support Sampling Human’s efforts to further advance R&D, business development and preparations for their next investment round.
Sampling Human’s core technology lies in their proprietary platform and kit format, that is able to detect and classify an extremely small number of selected cells in a sample of millions of other cells through the identification of their complex molecular features. This detection efficiency is achieved through biological processing, a major improvement from standard diagnostic processes which utilize large instruments, such as flow cytometry, that can only sort cells individually and only one sample can be analyzed at a time.
Single cells exhibit an incredibly rich set of attributes that can predict a patient’s health trajectory, but they are often impossible to decipher. Our platform democratizes single cell analysis to improve access for research institutions and clinicians
Daniel Georgiev
CEO of Sampling Human
“We formed Sampling Human to transform health measurement to be more precise and replicable. Single cells exhibit an incredibly rich set of attributes that can predict a patient’s health trajectory, but they are often impossible to decipher. Our platform democratizes single cell analysis to improve access for research institutions and clinicians,” said Daniel Georgiev, co-founder and CEO of Sampling Human. “By harnessing cells to analyze other cells, we make it possible to measure rare driver and repair events that have the potential to significantly change an individual’s health in negative or positive ways.”
The third investment
This is the third investment made this year by i&i Biotech Fund, that invests in innovative Life Sciences companies focused on drug discoveries, medical devices, diagnostics and digital health (read more about the others here and here). “Sampling Human is a great example of a promising startup with young, dynamic and capable leadership, with an ambitious business vision and, above all, cutting-edge technology that could revolutionize its industry,” says Jaromír Zahrádka, CEO of i&i Bio.
According to him, it is also another example of the benefits that the Fund brings from close cooperation with its main sponsor i&i Prague. “This project is nothing new to us. We met the Sampling Human team and got to understand their technology at i&i Prague at the end of 2019. The current investment is just another step in our journey. The step was made possible by the creation of i&i Biotech Fund,” adds Jaromír Zahrádka.
We met the Sampling Human team and got to understand their technology at i&i Prague at the end of 2019. The current investment is just another step in our journey. The step that was made possible by the creation of i&i Biotech Fund.
Jaromír Zahrádka
CEO of i&i Bio
Contact
Martin Kovalčík, kovalcik@inibio.eu, +420 777 472 863
i&i Biotech Fund (i&i Bio)
i&i Bio is a Luxembourg-based venture capital firm that invests in innovative European Life Sciences companies focused on drug discoveries, medical devices, diagnostics and digital health. With over €45M under management, i&i Bio plans to invest in about 20 early-stage companies. i&i Bio is led by an experienced team of professionals with backgrounds in private equity, the healthcare industry and venture capital who support entrepreneurs on their journey to global success. Thanks to close cooperation with the fund’s main sponsor, the biotech academic incubator, i&i Prague, i&i Bio has a great opportunity to be at the inception of transformative Central European technologies.
About i&i Prague
i&i Prague focuses on the transfer of new technologies into practice. It was established at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS and is dedicated to innovations in the field of drug development, diagnostics and medical devices originating from academic institutions. It supports the creation of spin-off companies and the sale of licenses. So far, the company has participated in the creation of, or otherwise supported, 15 spin-off companies from 5 countries, has an equity stake in 10 of them and has invested over CZK 70 million. Overall, the spin-offs in i&i Prague’s portfolio have raised more than CZK 1.8 billion from other investors. In addition to direct financial investments, i&i Prague also assists more than 15 research institutions and universities in the Czech Republic and abroad in the commercialization of innovative technologies. Among other things, it has participated in the sale of more than 10 licenses with a value exceeding CZK 5 million. In 2021, i&i Prague established the i&i Bio Investment Fund in cooperation with the European Investment Fund.
About Sampling Human
Sampling Human, Inc. is a synthetic biology diagnostics company developing novel methods for the early detection of disease. The company has developed simple and easy to perform diagnostic reagent kits for the liquid biopsy of healthy and diseased cells and a proprietary method of harnessing living cells to analyze other cells. The Company engineers and manufactures accessible tools that elevate sensitivity and increase speed of assay well beyond performance limits of complex instruments such as flow cytometry. Sampling Human’s novel platform, “Diagnostics On Target” (DOT), is a next generation cell diagnostics technology that translates vast amounts of single cell data into clinical practice to improve early disease detection and treatment monitoring. Learn more at www.samplinghuman.com.
About the European Investment Fund (EIF)
The Fund is supported by an investment from the EIF, with the support of:
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lnnovFin Equity, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe. The purpose of EFSI is to help support financing and implementing productive investments in the European Union and to ensure increased access to financing; and
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the Pan-European Guarantee Fund (EGF), implemented by the EIF with the financial support of the Participating Member States. The objective of EGF is to respond to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by ensuring that companies in the Participating Member States have sufficient short-term liquidity available to weather the crisis and are able to continue their growth and development in the medium to long-term.
