Biomanufacturing of vaccines, protein-based drugs, and other biomolecules is a notoriously tricky endeavor—especially when it comes to scaling up production—so it would stand to reason that commercializing technology to simplify the process would be an attractive business model. That logic seems to be holding true for Marlborough, MA’s Xcellerex, which announced today that it has closed a $31 million Series C funding round, the second round the firm has closed this year.
Founded in 2002 by a veteran of manufacturing management at Millennium Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MLNM) and initially funded in December 2003, Xcellerex is developing modular, disposable tools aimed at allowing biologics developers to easily (and cost-effectively) manufacture material for their clinical trails and to quickly ramp up production should the need arise. The company has announced contracts with several unnamed pharmaceutical firms, as well as two, totaling $13 million, from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
With the Series C financing, Xcellerex plans to push forward on its biologics manufacturing technology and services business, as well as initiating internal development of some of its own biomolecule products. The round announced today, led by new investor VantagePoint Venture Partners and joined by existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and SCG Investments, comes on top of a $20 million Series B round completed in January.
