Nine businesses have received £857,000 in funding from the Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst feasibility grant after completing the Microbials Accelerator programme co-led by Bionow and LYVA Labs with support from a dynamic consortium of partners including iiCON, University of Liverpool (UoL), Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), and The Innovation Agency (IA).
 
The Accelerator for SMEs developing microbiomes, biofilms, and phage technologies, assisted 11 companies with business, funding, and mentorship support. The nine funding recipients are:
 
AMPLY Discovery
BoobyBiome
BugBiome
Ferryx
LightOx
Matrix Bio
Oxford Silk Phage Technologies
Oxford Simcell
Microgenix
 
Commenting on the success of the programme, Geoff Davison, CEO of Bionow, said: “We were thrilled to support entrepreneurial SMEs and start-ups to achieve their route to commercialisation and develop the next generation of healthcare products, services, and technologies. There was a real sense of teamwork throughout the process with the sharing of ideas amongst the cohort and the partners.”
 
About the accelerator
 
The scope for the accelerator includes technologies, products, processes, and services which have the potential to impact microbial communities or biofilms related to health, including new technologies to protect beneficial microbiomes or to control harmful microbial communities or biofilms.
 
The microbial accelerator partnership offers a programme of developmental courses and mentorship opportunities. The programme is designed to give businesses the knowledge and support they need to move products and services from the development stage to market readiness.
 
Read more about the Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst accelerator programmes here.