Cambridge- and Boston-based Nuclera, which develops technologies for rapid in-house production and testing of proteins and antibodies for drug discovery, announced a $12 million extension to its Series C financing, raising the total to $87 million.
- Launched in 2013 by PhD students Michael Chen and Gordon McInroy at the University of Cambridge, Nuclera develops technologies for rapid, in-house production and testing of proteins and antibodies.
- Its eProtein Discovery™ system combines cell-free protein expression with digital microfluidics to perform parallel protein screens, allowing researchers to quickly identify soluble, high-yield proteins and optimize expression and purification conditions.
- The platform supports end-to-end characterization of proteins, including challenging membrane proteins and antibody fragments, producing assay-ready material for structural and functional studies in a matter of days.
Details of the deal
- The Series C round was led by Elevage Medical Technologies, a private equity firm founded in 2023 that backs growth-stage medical device and technology companies, and Jonathan Milner, with additional participation from existing investors British Business Bank and GK Goh.
"Elevage is proud to continue supporting Nuclera as it evolves into a foundational platform for protein and antibody engineering, helping researchers accelerate discovery timelines and reduce friction across the drug development process," explains Dr Michael Wasserman, Chief Operating Officer, Elevage Medical Technologies.
- The fresh capital will allow Nuclera to enhance its eProtein Discovery system with integrated antibody expression, purification, and binding validation, enabling researchers to generate high-quality datasets for AI-driven biologics research. This investment will streamline workflows, accelerate therapeutic development, and support more efficient discovery of next-generation proteins and antibodies.
“This financing underscores our growing momentum and demonstrates that we are expanding eProtein Discovery into one of the fastest-growing segments of biologics R&D. Scientists increasingly require scalable, high-quality datasets to power AI models in biologics discovery. We are positioning Nuclera to become a foundational platform for the future of protein and antibody engineering, ultimately accelerating therapeutic discovery timelines," claims Dr Michael Chen, CEO and co-founder of Nuclera.
