Akadeum Life Sciences in Ann Arbor Closes $17.5M Financing

Akadeum Life Sciences Inc. in Ann Arbor today announced the closing of an oversubscribed $17.5 million Series B financing, which was led by Arboretum Ventures, a venture capital firm in Ann Arbor.
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Patient personal health care taken by a specialist biochemist in a London research facility. One women in the lab
Akadeum Life Sciences in Ann Arbor announced it closed an oversubscribed $17.5 million Series B financing led by Arboretum Ventures. // Stock Photo

Akadeum Life Sciences Inc. in Ann Arbor today announced the closing of an oversubscribed $17.5 million Series B financing, which was led by Arboretum Ventures, a venture capital firm in Ann Arbor.

The funds will be used to advance global commercialization of Akadeum’s proprietary microbubble-based separation platform.

The microbubble-based technology utilized by Akadeum can easily float target cells, nucleic acids, and other biological targets to the top of a sample. The company’s solution solves a longstanding problem in the separation process, including volume and throughput restriction, allowing for virtually any biological target to be captured.

“This funding brings new momentum to our effort to deploy our technology platform to empower new scientific discoveries, improve diagnostic sensitivity, and increase access to novel cell therapies,” says Brandon H. McNaughton, Akadeum’s president and CEO. “The success of this financing is another indication of the growing interest in the applications of the Akadeum platform technology.”

Other investors in the round included Beringea, Agilent Technologies, Lifespand Ventures, BlueStone Venture Partners, Berkeley Catalyst Fund, Michigan Capital Network, Michigan Rise, the University of Michigan, and others. Akadeum will also use the funds to develop new business-to-business partnerships and expand research and development.

“We are very pleased to join as investors in Akadeum and see strong potential for their proprietary microbubble-based technology to deliver significant advances in science and strong commercial growth in the years ahead,” says Dan Kidle, managing partner at Arboretum Ventures.

Without the critical step of separation, many diagnostics and therapies would not be possible. The platform technology is disrupting the separation market — from nucleic acid extraction to cell isolation — by being a solution to more than just one problem. The company was the first to commercialize Buoyancy Activated Cell Sorting (BACSTM) microbubble kits for cell isolation applications.

To learn more about Akadeum and its products, visit https://www.akadeum.com.