LEIDEN, April 11, 2018 – Mimetas said today that it raised $20.5 million in a Series B round from a syndicate of investors in Asia and Europe.

The Netherlands-based company intends to use its newly-acquired funds to support global commercialization efforts for its OrganoPlate organ-on-a-chip drug-testing platform. Mimetas added that it hopes to broaden its product portfolio and establish tissue production facilities, as well as expand into the personalized medicine market.

Investors who contributed to the round included the European Life Sciences Growth Fund, InnovationQuarter, Aglaia Oncology Fund II and Cathay Venture.

“From the start, we were impressed by Mimetas’ technology and highly talented team,” fund manager Ginger Hsiao said in prepared remarks. “We consider the company as today’s leader in the organ-on-a-chip space with tremendous growth potential in the coming years. Its customer base already includes leading multinationals from Europe, US and Asia and the adoption of the platform ranges from academic users to high-throughput screening facilities for pharmaceuticals.”

“This strong investor base ticks all the boxes for Mimetas in this phase of corporate development,” founders Jos Joore and Paul Vulto added.

Last year, Mimetas touted an organ-on-a-chip system that it developed in collaboration with Roche (OTC:RHHBY) that was designed to evaluate intestinal permeability in 3D gut tubules following exposure to drug compounds.

The researchers reported that the intestinal tubules were leak-tight after just four days in culture and that they expressed specific transporters and receptors. The team’s gut model could be used to assess drug toxicology and to study diseases relating to the intestinal barrier.