November 19, 2020 -- Boston, MA & Singapore -- AIM Biotech completed its series A financing to accelerate growth of its organ-on-a-chip business. The company’s advanced research tool mimics human organs and disease models in the lab to improve, accelerate and reduce the cost of drug discovery for academic, translational and clinical researchers. The round was led by Wavemaker Partners and included participation from SEEDS Capital (the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore), Elevate, Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health, Black Kite Investment and others.
“The funds give us the resources for our next stage of growth,” said Jim McGorry, CEO. “Our plans are to set up a U.S. subsidiary, expand commercial operations, grow our presence in Singapore with our contract research services for researchers and biopharma companies around the world, and develop new disease-specific chips, protocols, and chip designs.”
The AIM platform helps overcome the limitations of drug development when it comes to use of cell culture assays and animal models. It specifically gives research teams scalable organ-on-a-chip assays that provide more relevant, human-focused data at every stage of development. The result is more informed decisions and less wasted time and money in drug development.
“Billions are spent each year on preclinical drug discovery,” said Paul Santos, Managing Partner of Wavemaker Partners. “Research teams looking to select drug candidates with the greatest efficacy and lowest toxicity currently rely on non-human data, which increases the chance of clinical trial failure. We are hopeful that AIM’s organ-on-a-chip, which seems to be the most technologically advanced and commercially viable in the market today, will enable it to become the leader in the space.”
AIM Biotech has established cost-efficient manufacturing, operations and services to support its growing technology platform by taking advantage of the advanced biopharma precision engineering expertise in Singapore.
“With the strong support from Wavemaker, we plan to expand into new business segments and further grow our portfolio of solutions for AIM’s customers,” said Kuan Chee Mun, AIM’s founder and executive director. “We have a great partner in Wavemaker who sees the global opportunity for our technology.”
About AIM Biotech
AIM Biotech's platform and world-class lab services let drug researchers get more relevant, human-focused data at every stage of development. That means more informed decisions and less wasted time. Streamline your workflow. Rethink how you look at life sciences. It's time to add the human element.
About Wavemaker Partners
Wavemaker Partners is Southeast Asia’s go-to early-stage VC for enterprise and deep tech. 116 out of the 136 (85%) portfolio companies we have invested in since 2012 are in enterprise & deep tech. Our portfolio includes startups in software, AI and cybersecurity as well as precision agriculture, cleantech, additive manufacturing and laser communications. Recent exits include TradeGecko’s acquisition by Intuit, Moka’s and Coins.ph’s acquisitions by Gojek, Red Dot Payment by PayU/Naspers and Wavecell by 8×8.
For more information, please visit wavemaker.vc
