Biotech specialist GlycoSelect has completed a seed funding round of €450,000 with investments from Enterprise Ireland and KBI Biopharma, a US contract development and manufacturing company based in Durham, North Carolina.

The company said the capital will be used to accelerate development of new products and expand applications of GlycoSelect’s technology into the manufacture of pharmaceutical products. The company was founded in 2013 and is developing innovative proprietary solutions for the analysis, characterisation and purification of pharmaceutical products.

GlycoSelect is a DCU spinout, where two scientists working at the university, Dr Paul Clarke and Dr Róisín Thompson, came up with glycan-specific technology to analyse glycoproteins. The academics had noticed that existing methods of glycoprotein product analysis were time consuming and expensive and set out to develop a better solution..

Chief executive Robert Dunne said: “Our aim is to become the leading company in glycoprotein separation technology. Our bridgehead strategy for the life science market is to develop product analysis solutions for biopharmaceutical companies, leading to the use of RPL technology in manufacturing applications. We welcome the support of Enterprise Ireland, which is vital for implementing our business plan and achieving this aim.”

Prior to the fundraising, Clarke and Thompson each owned 44% of the equity, Dunne’s shareholding was 6% while Ian Ivetts and Neil Brown were 3% shareholders.

In Association with

GlycoSelect raised €150,000 from KBI Biopharma in 2016 and €100,000 in February 2017. This leveraged €200,000 from taxpayers through two Enterprise Ireland payments of €100,000 effected in April 2017 and August 2017.

EI's Joe Healy commented: “Ireland continues to rapidly grow as a leading global health and life sciences hub and I would like to congratulate GlycoSelect on their success in raising seed funding. Their technology lends itself to the analysis and separation of new biomolecules with the capability to be used in the lab or in bulk production separation. Enterprise Ireland looks forward to working with GlycoSelect to drive the further development and growth of the Irish life sciences sector in global markets.”