Metrion Biosciences Opens £600k Investment Round Through SyndicateRoom to Support Growth of Services Business

•          Industry-leading ion channel specialist seeks equity capital to expand offering and increase reach
•          Up to £600k of new equity capital sought, with £150k already committed

Cambridge, UK, 16 January 2018: Metrion Biosciences, the specialist ion channel contract research and drug discovery company, and online investment platform SyndicateRoom, announced today the opening of a £600k investment round in Metrion. Metrion will use the funds to expand its rapidly growing fee-for-service business.

This is the first private investment round for the Company, which formed in 2015 as a management buy-out from Xention Ltd., and has since been financed entirely from operations. Existing shareholders, employees and associates have already committed £150k to the new financing. The funds will support further expansion of Metrion’s commercial team and internal assay development capabilities, and will also strengthen its working capital. Metrion has achieved strong growth since its inception, achieving steady total revenue growth, and with sales in the CRO side of the business more than doubling in 2017 compared to the previous year.

Metrion provides a range of high quality ion channel assays on a fee-for-service or collaboration basis.  Specialist ion channel expertise includes an industry-leading panel of in vitro cardiac ion channel safety assays, translational native cell and phenotypic assays for neurological and cardiotoxicity testing, and a range of other ion channel screening services such as cell line development and optimisation.  Metrion Biosciences is able to provide tailored assay formats, data analysis and reporting solutions, effective project management and quality assured data packages.

Andrew Southan, Chief Operating Officer, Metrion Biosciences, said: “Metrion has proven its ability to deliver, and has built a robust reputation for high quality assay validation, data collection and reporting for ion channel targets. This additional investment will enable us to broaden the scope of our assays, and reach into new market opportunities.”

Keith McCullagh, Non-executive Chairman, Metrion Biosciences, said: “Metrion aims to be the leading provider of ion channel assay expertise to the life science industry. We believe we have made excellent progress toward this goal, with a strong financial track record to date, and I look forward to reporting further success in the coming years.”

Tom Britton, SyndicateRoom Co-Founder, commented: “With a highly experienced team at its helm, Metrion has demonstrated strong traction since its formation in 2015. We are thrilled to be involved in the Company's first private investment round, and excited at the potential of its research to help combat a range of fatal and debilitating diseases.”

Details of the Metrion Biosciences investment round can be found here: https://www.syndicateroom.com/metrion-biosciences