• Closing of seed round completed raising €3.7 million from SARSTEDT, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), R3 Consulting, ARVE Capital, ROI Verwaltungsgesellschaft and Chemovator.
• faCellitate has developed an intelligent and ultra-low attachment polymer surface coating platform. The first launched product thereof is targeting 3D cell culture, enabling simple, reliable, and reproducible 3D cell cultivation that challenges the industry’s gold standard. The roll out of further products on this basis is underway.
• faCellitate’s platform is suitable for coating a wide range of plastic and glassware. Together with the ability of targeted chemical modification of the polymer coating, this enables the solution of numerous unsolved problems in cell culture and industrial facility applications.

Mannheim-based life science startup faCellitate has successfully raised 3.7 million Euro in its closing of seed funding. On board are well-known investors such as SARSTEDT, HTGF, R³ Consulting, ROI Verwaltungsgesellschaft, ARVE Capital and Chemovator.

Mannheim — The faCellitate team under the leadership of co-founder and CEO Simon Widmaier, develops polymeric surface coatings for plastic and glassware enabling multiple applications, such as 3-dimensional cell culture, cell and protein repellent surface environment or chemistry driven material surface modifications. The company´s first product, a 96-well-plate with a highly anti-adhesive surface coating, BIOFLOAT™, is ideal for the rapid and reliable production of perfect 3D spheroids which are suitable as in vitro-model in fundamental research and drug development and providing advantages over existing products. These unique properties make it a premium product for 3D cell culture and give scientists a fast and highly reliable tool to drive their research.

The company is currently working on introducing further plate formats, launching new product lines based on its proprietary platform technology, and further increasing the company value by leveraging cross-selling opportunities building on the existing customer base.

The company was formed at Chemovator, the internal venture builder of BASF, and consequently spun-off end of 2021.

Dr. Simon Widmaier, CEO of faCellitate states: “We are stoked by the fact that faCellitate is attracting very experienced investors participating in our journey, sharing our vision and giving us the opportunity to contribute to life science innovation. In addition to players from the VC world, SARSTEDT, a high caliber strategic investor, has joined the list of shareholders. With the money raised we can go full steam ahead and apply our technology platform to develop more high-end products needed in modern biotechnology labs.”

Dr. Klaus Schollmeier, chairman of the board of directors of faCellitate, adds: “With one product already on the market enjoying excellent customer feedback, and several products to be launched within the next 12 to 24 months, faCellitate is well positioned for an excellent future.”

Timo Schretzmair, CFO of SARSTEDT, points out: “faCellitate’s team has already achieved initial success in delivering a unique coating technology with unparalleled proven product performance having the potential to unlock new pathways for research and science around the world – we at SARSTEDT are very enthusiastic to participate in faCellitate’s journey.”

Dr. Angelika Vlachou, Principal at High-Tech Gründerfonds, who accompanies faCellitate as a member of the board, says: “Robust and reliable 3D cell culture systems are increasingly becoming an integral part of biomedical drug and target screening. Together with our co-investors, we look forward to further expanding faCellitate’s product portfolio and pipeline.”