BOSTON– CytoTronics, Inc., a pioneer of semiconductor-based platforms for discovery in cell biology, today announced a $13.5 million seed extension financing and the appointment of Sameer Rohatgi of LYFE Capital to their Board of Directors.
The Series Seed 2 round was led by new investor, LYFE Capital, and existing investor Anzu Partners. New investors including Legend Star, RIT Venture Fund (Rochester Institute of Technology), and Draper Associates also joined the round, with continued support from BoxOne Ventures and other minority financial supporters. The additional capital enables CytoTronics to build off a successful early access program and accelerate market entry of their semiconductor-to-live-cell interface for cell biology applications, Pixel™.
“The field has been seeking a live cell analysis platform that provides exquisite resolution and outputs numerous data points to conduct multiple measurements. We’re impressed with the CytoTronics team and excited to support their commercial launch of Pixel and future platforms,” said Sameer Rohatgi, Partner at LYFE Capital. Sameer brings 20+ years of industry experience to the CytoTronics Board of Directors, spanning life science tools, diagnostics and implantable medical devices. Prior to joining LYFE Capital, he worked at Illumina as Head of International Corporate and Business Development. At Agilent Technologies, Sameer was Director of Genomics Marketing for the Genomics business unit, and held leadership roles in business development at both Agilent Technologies and Incyte Genomics.
CytoTronics’ Pixel assesses live cell function at single-cell resolution, offering scientists simultaneous, multi-modal monitoring of cell viability, morphology, electrophysiology, and more while generating electrical images with single-cell spatial resolution. Pixel received the 2024 New Product Award by the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening in February, and a R&D 100 award from Research & Development World in August. Early access for the company’s second system, Pixel Octo, kicked off in July and is poised to break scalability barriers for monitoring live cell function in high-throughput cell biology discovery applications.
“In just six short months, Pixel has received two prestigious awards and an overwhelmingly positive response from our global collaborations with early adopters in both industry and academia. Continued support from our existing investors, enthusiasm from our new investor partners, and customer excitement around Pixel really strengthens momentum as CytoTronics enters this new stage of growth,” said Jeffrey Abbott, Ph.D., Co-Founder and CEO of CytoTronics. “This funding round will support expansion of our commercial and field teams, manufacturing, and production as we gear up for our first product shipments in 2025.”
Anzu Partners led the original Series Seed 1 funding in 2021, powering CytoTronics’s spin out from Harvard University. “As an early investor in CytoTronics, we are thrilled with the progress the team has made over the past year with the successful launch of Pixel Primo and Pixel Octo,” said Jenna Abelli, Principal at Anzu Partners and Member of CytoTronics Board of Directors. “CytoTronics’ technology has the potential to advance various realms of cell biology and discovery, catalyzing broader scientific progress that could improve lives. We are excited to continue our support as an investor to further this mission.”
