Overfunding: REGEMAT 3D Quickly Raises Over €300,000 for Bioprinting Tech

Spanish bioprinter manufacturer REGEMAT 3D has successfully secured its initial €300,000 funding target from more than 390 investors through a crowdfunding platform campaign on Crowdcube. The funding round reached the minimum investment target in only seven days and will now remain open until the company raises €3 million with its multiple sources funding action plan. Like many other businesses, REGEMAT 3D is looking to capitalize on this year’s record-breaking investment in biotech.

Aiming to promote the international expansion of its technology and become a globally leading supplier of biomaterial and bioprinting equipment for researchers, REGEMAT 3D decided in late July 2020 that it would open a new round of investment. The company was quick to secure its pitch, completing 92 percent of the funding target in the first three days. Now, it has 17 days left to attract more Crowdcube investors, offering 2.08% in equity at a €14.7 million pre-money valuation.

In just three days, REGEMAT 3D completed 92% of its Crowdcube funding round. Image courtesy of Regemat 3D/Crowdcube

By creating modular bioprinting systems that integrate the latest advances in 3D printing and regenerative therapies, REGEMAT 3D offers adapted solutions to fulfill research needs. Since launching in 2015, the company, along with research collaborators, has been developing clinical and pre-clinical models that range from cartilage and skin regeneration to living tissues. Led by founder Jose Manuel Baena and headquartered in Granada, the business exports its tissue and organ biofabrication equipment, bioprinters, and bioreactors to 28 countries, and has sold its technology to more than 100 research institutions and pharma firms. Ultimately, the goal is to create functional tissues and living organs in the lab that can be transplanted to patients, improving their quality of life. Throughout the past five years, it has developed multi-application devices to generate 3D tissues in the laboratory, an automated platform for research protocols, and supplies biomaterials.

Its tissue generation process consists of a first phase, in which a 3D construct is printed, and a second, in which the construct is matured using a bioreactor to favor the generation of functional tissue. Earlier this year, the firm also launched a new bioprinting system, the REG4Life, ideal for tissue regeneration of skin, bone, cartilage, cardiac tissue, cornea, and tumoral models. As well as a new department to provide its customers with the bioinks and consumables needed for their research.

REGEMAT 3D’s REG4Life bioprinter. Image courtesy of REGEMAT 3D

According to REGEMAT 3D, the growing number of tissue pathologies in aging populations along with the need to accelerate the development of new drugs and reduce the use of animals in research makes 3D bioprinting a very attractive field. There is a pressing need for systems to replicate the 3D structure of living tissues in the laboratory, as well as growing demand for technologies that can help translate laboratory findings into clinically applicable therapeutics. This opens up a million-dollar market that is especially appealing for companies like REGEMAT 3D.

In the last two years, REGEMAT 3D has increased its revenues fourfold, with 2019 company sales alone amounting to €682,900. In 2020, its turnover considerably shot up, mainly because the company’s platforms were found useful for generating 3D models of tissues affected by the infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. Since it was first reported in China in December 2019, the epidemic has been ever-increasing, fast-tracking the development of vaccine and drug testing as scientists turn to novel technologies to enable safe pre-clinical and clinical trials. Several 3D bioprinting companies focused on the research and development of artificial tissues are turning into key players in the growing biotechnology field. REGEMAT 3D in particular claims it is working around the clock to develop 3D tissues for advanced therapies against the disease.

REGEMAT 3D bioprinting technology. Image courtesy of REGEMAT 3D

As part of its expansion and research efforts, REGEMAT 3D has also raised €700,000 in 2020 from the Horizon 2020 European Union (EU) funding program; Initial Coin Offering (ICO) funds, and the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).

Funds from the Crowdcube round shows a growing interest in bioprinting. During the first half of 2020 and amid an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the private sector has managed to rack up record-breaking investments. According to Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) director and expert Theresa Brady, “While the world’s attention has been rightfully focused on the hope of a breakthrough that will eradicate COVID-19,” and as “much of the economy falls victim to the global threat, venture capital funding for biotech companies is not only weathering the storm, it topped over $6.4 billion in the second quarter of 2020—which is more than what was raised annually in every year prior to 2014.”

REGEMAT 3D has been strategically collaborating with researchers around the world and leveraging its technology for groundbreaking applications. Like its competitors, REGEMAT 3D is trying to hone in on the bioprinting market, which SmarTech Analysis has suggested in its “Bioprinting Markets: Materials, Equipment And Applications – 2017 To 2027: An Opportunity Analysis And Ten-year Forecast” report would generate over $1 billion in revenue in 2027, accompanied by a healthy market in specialist bioprinting hardware and materials. The overfunded round in Crowdcube is a good sign for the company, especially as it looks to continue developing new biomaterials and launching new products.

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