Metalysis and Poietis Raise Funding to Further 3D Printing Developments

Materials Manufacturing Center

Metal powder producer Metalysis is expanding on a large scale. Its expansion project, Generation 4 (Gen4), will see the creation of an industrial scale production facility located within the company’s Materials Manufacturing Center in South Yorkshire. The modular Gen4 builds upon Generations 1-3 of Metalysis’ solid-state electrochemical technology. It can produce hundreds of metric tons of valuable specialty powder alloys for use in additive manufacturing and other industries.

Today, Metalysis announces that it has raised £12 million ahead of commercial production for the expansion project. The money will fund state-of-the-art post-processing facilities and feedstock, as well as provide working capital to support the rollout of the project.

Fundraising participants included:

• Woodford Investment Management
• Draper Esprit PLC
• ETF Partners
• Interogo Treasury
• Hercules Capital Inc. 

Materials Discovery Center

Gen4 is only one of two major capital projects taken on by Metalysis in the last year. The other involves its Materials Discovery Center in the Advanced Manufacturing Park, also in South Yorkshire. The Park was opened in March 2017 by a delegation from the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and houses materials development and technology projects with Metalysis’ partners and clients. In the year that it has been in operation, the Park has attracted five new commercial partners, as well as in-house and confidential programs.

“Naturally, we are pleased that Metalysis has attracted financial backing from both new and existing sophisticated institutional investors,” said Dion Vaughan, CEO of Metalysis. “The expansion project carried out during the past year, combined with these proceeds, will support our multi-metal production and commercial rollout. Metalysis is a high growth U.K. technology business with advanced materials breakthroughs and solid-state production of great value to its customers, shareholders, partners, and employees.”

In other funding news, yesterday, bioprinting company Poietis announced the closing of a second round of financing.

Poietis has become known for its advanced research in bioprinting, including 3D printed skin, and recently began sales of commercially available bioprinted tissue. Its €5 Series A round was handled through crowdfunding on the WiSEED platform, as well as investment by the Nouvelle Aquitaine Co-Investment Fund (NACO) and the granting of non-dilutive funding obtained in Phase 2 of the worldwide Innovation Challenge.

“We are proud of the confidence shown by our historical investors who have been with us almost since inception (WiSEED and business angels) and the investment by NACO,” said Fabien Guillemot, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Poietis. “The funds will allow to respond to one of the main regenerative medicine challenges through the development of tissue manufacturing solutions based on bioprinting for clinical purpose.”

“For the second time we achieved a record collection on WiSEED with 1.1M € collected from 1029 private investors,” said Louise Chopinet, responsible for Health Projects at WiSEED. “A renewed success after a first round of € 1M in 2015 thanks to the performance of the Poietis team in achieving its objectives, which guarantees the trust given by our investors. Poietis answers important challenges in the medical sector, and we are proud to support its development.”

Poietis will use the funding to accelerate its technological developments aimed at making its technology compatible with regulatory requirements and the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) for advanced therapy medicinal products.The company’s goal is to ensure the reproducibility, standardization and traceability of the tissue manufacturing process while ensuring the biological safety of the bioprinted tissues. If Poietis succeeds, bioprinted tissues could be implanted into patients as early as 2021.

“After having developed the skin bio-printing applications for the dermo-cosmetic industry, we will be able, thanks to this fundraising, to reinforce our activities into regenerative medicine and target other organs than skin, such as the liver, in collaboration with university hospital centers,” said Bruno Brisson, Poietis Co-Founder and VP of Business Development.

“NACO is very happy to be able to support a promising and jobcreating regional start-up,” said Bernard Estienne, Director of Aqui Gestion, which runs NACO. “This operation is fully in line with the Nouvelle Aquitaine Region’s strategy to support innovative companies.”

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