Investment Fund for Scotland announces first major deal

We are delighted to announce that the IFS Maven Equity Finance has completed its first investment, backing medical technology business Carcinotech. The £750,000 equity investment is also the first major deal from the £150 million Investment Fund for Scotland which was launched in October 2023 by the government backed British Business Bank, aiming to boost the supply of early-stage finance to small and medium-sized businesses across the country.

Edinburgh based Carcinotech has raised £4.2 million as part of its latest funding round and has plans to expand into the US later this year. Using its Carcino3D technology, the startup creates 3D bioprinted tumour models using cancer cell lines derived from patients, providing a platform for rapid, ethical, and accurate drug screening, as well as pre-clinical and personalised medicine testing to support cancer treatment. 

“Our vision is to be at the forefront of cancer drug testing and provide personalised medicine testing to every individual suffering from cancer to improve their treatment and chance of survival. Working with global partners, leading pharma companies, surgeons, pathologists, and clinicians, Carcinotech aims to significantly accelerate oncology drug development.

As part of ongoing commercialisation, we have built strong industry partnerships in Europe, and are now actively engaged in replicating these in North America.”

Ishani Malhotra, CEO and Founder, Carcinotech

In October, Carcinotech announced a partnership with Gothenburg-headquartered CELLINK, leveraging CELLINK’s bioprinting solutions and Carcinotech’s expertise in  producing bioprinted living tumours to develop cutting-edge cell line cancer models.

Carcinotech has also strengthened its board, chaired by industry veteran Albert Nicholl, and launched a scientific advisory board last year with world renowned oncology leaders.

“Carcinotech’s progress over the last 12 months has been impressive and the company is ideally placed to  capitalise on the need for more pre-dictive, non-animal models for testing of anti-cancer drugs and the huge opportunity for personalised medicine in cancer treatment. Carcinotech’s models are reproducible and pro-vided in a familiar format for high-throughput screening, key requirements for adoption by the pharmaceutical industry for the testing of drug candidates. I am very much looking forward to working with Ishani and her team and to drawing on Maven’s vast experience of backing smaller businesses to help scale this important business."

David Milroy, Partner at Maven

“Carcinotech has huge potential to transform the way cancer treatments are tested and developed with its advanced 3D bioprinting technology. The investment marks a significant milestone for the Bank’s Investment Fund for Scotland and so we are especially pleased to see it is supporting a female-founder leading the effort to deliver this cutting-edge medical technology as well as the company’s international expansion.”

Ken Cooper, Managing Director, Venture Solutions, at the British Business Bank

As Fund Manager of IFS - Maven Equity Finance, Maven can provide investment of up to £5 million to support both earlier and later stage businesses with real growth potential across a range of sectors. If your business, or the business you advise, is looking at equity investment as a solution to fund future growth please click here.