Bratislava-based biotechnology company Sensible Biotechnologies, which develops technology for producing mRNA in living cells, has raised $47 million in financing, including a Series A led by Oxford Science Enterprises and up to $20 million in non-dilutive funding from the Government of Slovakia and the European Union, as Vestbee was informed.
- Founded in 2021 by Miro Gašpárek and Marian Kupčulák, Sensible develops its VECTOR platform, which uses engineered living cells to produce naturally modified mRNA, combined with AI-enabled sequence design and automated high-throughput screening.
- According to the company, its cell-made mRNA has shown no detectable double-stranded RNA in certain external evaluations and triggered lower undesirable immune activation while producing higher protein expression than synthetic mRNA in human immune-cell assays.
- Sensible's platform can currently produce around 1,000 mRNA sequences per week. The company has 55 employees across Oxford, Bratislava, and Boston, as well as a strategic partnership with Sartorius. Its technology has also been published in Nature Biotechnology and Cell Chemical Biology.
Details of the deal
- The financing attracted new investors OTB Ventures and In-Q-Tel, alongside existing backers Recode Ventures, BlueYard Capital, and Y Combinator. The family office of BioNTech co-founder Christoph Huber and Tim Garnett, former Chief Medical Officer of Eli Lilly, also participated.
“We have many top-tier investors on our cap table, but the level of ZAKA’s continued support and attention for its portfolio founders is extraordinary,” said Miro Gašpárek, CEO and co-founder of Sensible.
- With the fresh capital, the startup aims to fully automate its VECTOR platform and build clinical-grade manufacturing capacity in Slovakia.
