TAIPEI, Taiwan & WATERTOWN, Mass.– Syncell, a leader in next-generation subcellular protein purification and spatial proteomics analysis, today announced the close of a $15 million Series A funding round, bringing its total raised to $30 million. The investment will be used to expand and accelerate the global commercialization and commercial support for the company’s groundbreaking Microscoop platform. The round was led by Taiwania Capital, with participation from new and existing investors.
“We are so proud of Syncell’s growth and progress in 2024, with the imminent placement of instruments in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and the opening of new offices in the U.S. and Taiwan,” said Jung-Chi Liao, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Syncell. “The Series A investment will power the next phase of our growth, enabling us to build out a full commercial team and scale-up our operations to support the growing demand for our technology for spatial biologists and cell biologists, giving them the ability to accurately discover new protein components from targeted regions of interest.”
“We are pleased to work with Syncell and lead the Series A financing. The company has tremendous potential to transform spatial biology and proteomics research in an unbiased way, helping researchers gain high sensitivity and high specificity in their detection and analysis of proteins. Further, the company is leveraging AI to enable targeted photolabeling, offering the potential to leverage machine learning to build new models of biology,” said Jerome Shen, General Partner of Taiwania’s Bio Fund.
The pioneering Microscoop platform enables high-precision, unbiased, spatial proteomic discovery in subcellular tissues or cells, and has the ability to accurately discover new protein components from predetermined regions of interest. The technology also enables spatial protein purification for proteomic discovery, helping researchers identify cell subtypes and states, novel protein drug targets at disease-associated locations, biomarkers for disease, and mechanisms of biological pathways. The technology can power research focused on oncology, neurodegenerative diseases, infectious diseases, metabolic diseases, and developmental biology, as well as a range of drug discovery applications. Syncell recently won a Biotech Breakthrough Award with the Microscoop platform named “Proteomics Solution of the Year” for 2024.
“Syncell’s spatial opto-proteomics platform enables us to uncover the proteins present in disease-associated aggregates within human postmortem brain tissue. This technology allows us to identify potential biomarkers for future diagnostics or therapeutic targets in an unbiased manner—achievements not possible with other spatial biology methods,” said Wilfried Rossoll, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neuroscience at the Mayo Clinic. “I see immense potential in subcellular protein profiling and spatial proteomics to discover proteins in locations inaccessible to other technologies.”
In addition to the company’s commercial growth, Syncell has begun building relationships with downstream technology partners, having recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Thermo Fisher Scientific covering its mass spectrometer instruments and workflows. Such relationships will support the company’s continued growth across industry segments.
