Scottishbiotech engineering company uFraction8 has secured £3.4m in new investment following the completion of a funding round led by the Foresight Group.

Based in Falkirk with a fully-owned subsidiary in Poland, uFraction8’s microfiltration technology is designed to optimise cell and biomass production,offering a sustainable, energy-efficient alternative to traditional methods used in the production of food, feed, and bio-based products. By enhancing the scalability and affordability of bioprocessing, the company is focused on addressing critical challenges in the global bio-tech sector.

The latest investment round also includes funding from University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment fund Old College Capital, Scottish Enterprise, AlwynCapital, Thia Ventures and a grant from the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development.

The funds will be used to further commercialise uFraction8’s technology, originally developed at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering. The company’s innovation provides applications across several key markets, including microalgae and biopharma which are forecast to grow to $3bn and more than $30bn by 2030 respectively. The investment capital will also support further technology development to help transform microalgae industry production processes and drastically reduce the cost of products.

Co-founded by Dr Brian Miller and Dr Monika Tomecka, uFraction8 currently employs seven people within its business in Scotland and Poznan, Poland. The company secured £2.5m investment in an earlier investment round in 2022 led by Thia Ventures.

Dr Monika Tomecka, Founder and CEO of uFraction8, commented: “We’re thrilled to havesecured this significant investment, which will drive forward this next stage of our growth. The support from our investors is a testament to the impact and potential of our innovative technology. These funds will ensure we can bring our solutions to market more rapidly, particularly the microalgae and bio-separation within biopharma sectors, and enable Fraction8 to continue its innovation withinthe alternative protein sector.”

Rubina Singh,Senior Investment Manager at Foresight added: “We are delighted to besupporting Monika and the uFraction8 team in bringing this breakthrough technology to market. At Foresight, we’re committed tosupporting pioneering technologies for a sustainable future. uFraction8’s advancements in continuous bioprocessing present transformative opportunities across multiple industries and we are excited to help the company achieve further impact in their important work.”

Kerry Sharp, Director of Entrepreneurship and Investment at Scottish Enterprise said: “Scottish Enterprise has supported uFraction8’s ambition over several years to develop and commercialise its highly innovative technology to enable its customers to produce more efficient and scalable manufacturing of bio-based products. The biotech industry is a key opportunity area for growth for Scotland. Companies such as uFraction8 can play a vital role in transforming our economy by scaling-up, creating high value jobs and competing internationally.”