San Antonio — [Updated 12/7/2016, 12:32 p.m. See below.] StemBioSys, a small life sciences firm that sells stem cell products, has raised $2.7 million in equity and debt, according to a regulatory filing.
The San Antonio company is in the process of raising an additional $3 million in equity funding, about half of which it has already received, according to CEO Bob Hutchens. StemBioSys plans to use the funding to potentially launching new products in 2017 and toward the distribution deals it has signed globally, including a new U.S. deal the company plans to announce in January, Hutchens says. [Comments from CEO added throughout.]
Of the $2.7 million, about $1.4 million is tied to a convertible note from BioBridge Global, a San Antonio nonprofit that StemBioSys is working with on a grant, Hutchens says. That note can be later converted into equity. The remainder of the money came from the company’s Series A investors, who contributed an $8 million round in 2015, he says.
StemBioSys has developed an extracellular matrix used to replicate stem cells. Before the new U.S. distribution dean, StemBioSys previously its products directly to research labs and companies for producing large quantities of cells that can be used in testing of potential drugs, among other practices. Hutchens says having a third party distribute is simpler for researchers.
The company has signed deals with companies in Sweden, South Korea, and Japan to distribute the product in those countries.
Meanwhile, StemBioSys is working with GenCure, a subsidiary of BioBridge Global, on a $7.8 million grant from a military-based organization that aims to develop large-scale manufacturing of stem cells.
