A Cardiff-based innovative marine biotech firm which extracts collagen from jellyfish, has closed an £8.7m Series A equity investment round. Jellagen has secured investment from the Cardiff Capital Region (CCR), the Development Bank of Wales, and the Thai Union Group PCL.
The Development Bank of Wales invested £1.2m in equity, while the Cardiff City Deal backed the investment round with £2m with the aim of building medical device expertise in south Wales and growing the sector in the region.
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Thai Union Group PCL also invested an undisclosed figure in Jellagen via its Corporate Venture Capital Fund. The group is one of the world's leading seafood companies and one of the largest producers of shelf-stable tuna products owning British household brand, John West.
Thai Union's investment focuses on new technologies along the marine products value chain, food value chain, alternative proteins, functional nutrition and biotechnology. The rest of the round was funded by existing UK and international shareholders, mainly business angels.
The Series A funding round will enable Jellagen to reach a major milestone in providing safety data generation and prototype validation on its leading soft-tissue healing program, bringing it closer human trials of using collagen derived from jellyfish to help heal human organs.
Most collagen used in treatments comes from mammals such as pigs, cows and rats, which can increase the risk of diseases or viruses when used in humans. The jellyfish-sourced collagen – also known as Collagen Type 0 – used by Jellagen has shown improved results in tests when compared to mammal-sourced collagen in preclinical testing.
The Cardiff firm has established development collaborations with top research organisations including the Mayo Clinic in the US and Europe to investigate and corroborate these findings.
Jellagen chief executive Thomas-Paul Descamps said: "It is a great achievement and a major step to have secured this pivotal Series A round in such a challenging economic environment. I want first to thank our new investors and our existing shareholders for their trust in the incredible potential of the Jellagen technology platform.
“Cardiff Capital Region City Deal and the Development Bank of Wales are providing us with a unique local Welsh ecosystem to support the growth of Jellagen as a future global medical devices and biomaterial leader based in Wales. In addition, the investment of Thai Union is a game-changer in securing Jellagen sourcing and enabling future manufacturing scaleup. Combining the immense possibilities of our Collagen Type 0 with this enlarged investor base will help unleash the considerable potential of the Jellagen technology platform.”
Mark Bowman, deputy fund manager at the Development Bank of Wales, said: “We’re hugely pleased to have backed Jellagen as part of this funding round.
“Wales is host to a number of pioneering biotech companies and we were pleased to join the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal in supporting Jellagen – our combined backing will allow us to grow a sector which is already strong in the region, and strengthens Wales’ position as host to a thriving medical sciences sector.”
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