Scailyte Closes Pre-Series A Financing Round

SURSEE, Switzerland, June 9, 2020 (Newswire.com) -  Scailyte AG, a Swiss startup in the emerging and rapidly growing field of single-cell technologies, raised CHF 3.1 million in a pre-Series A round led by Swisscom Ventures. 

4FO Ventures, HEMEX and a private investor joined the financing round, alongside the existing shareholders who increased their investments. Dr. Jean-Pierre Rosat, CEO of 4FO Ventures, will join the Board of Directors of Scailyte. 

Scailyte discovers ultrasensitive biomarkers and develops in-vitro diagnostics using single-cell technologies and their proprietary single-cell data analysis platform ScaiVisionTM. 

ScaiVisionTM offers best-in-class analysis of complex single-cell data to enhance biomedical research, pharmaceutical discovery and precision diagnostics. Besides developing its own in vitro diagnostic (IVD) applications, Scailyte also offers its biomarker discovery services to companies aiming to complement and enrich their analysis by adding the single-cell perspective. 

“We are continuously developing and utilizing our data analytics platform ScaiVisionTM for biomarker discovery from single-cell data,” says Peter Nestorov, CEO of Scailyte AG. “The current version covers all aspects of processing, handling and interpreting single-cell proteomics data (mass and flow cytometry), as well as a core functionality for analyzing single-cell transcriptomics data. This allows us to accelerate biomedical discovery and enable the next generation of precision diagnostics. With the support of strong partners like Swisscom Ventures, 4FO and HEMEX, we will continue to grow in the fast-emerging Single-Cell Analysis field, enabling various clinical applications of single-cell data“. 

The raised capital will be used to further build upon Scailyte’s biomarker and IVD pipeline, and drive the development of the first clinical applications using single-cell biomarkers. 

Dominique Mégret, Head of Swisscom Ventures, commented, "Since we began supporting Scailyte in 2018 we have been impressed by the team and the positive results. We see an opportunity to leverage their AI technology to build a portfolio of biomarkers which will have a positive effect on the speed of patient diagnosis.” 

Matthieu Berger, CFA, the General Partner who led 4FO’s due diligence, added: “We are very happy to support Scailyte and join a high-quality group of investors in this endeavor. Scailyte is at the forefront of single-cell analysis system development and holds the potential to be one of the future leaders in the field. Mixing AI with the most advanced biological analytic tools makes for a very interesting and intriguing company.” © 2017 - 2020 Scailyte AG | Industriestrasse 12 | CH - 6210 Sursee | CHE-373.612.844 2 

Also contributing to this financing round is HEMEX, the startup incubator whose CEO, Pascal Winnen, is Scailyte’s Chairman: ”It is a pleasure to work with the dynamic and ambitious group of scientists that drives Scailyte’s rapid progress. The first results of the powerful biomarker discovery platform have exceeded all expectations. We are proud to continue to support Scailyte to turn this knowledge into products that will have a lasting impact on patients’ lives.” 

Swisscom Ventures is the venture capital arm of the Swisscom Group, the leading telecommunications and one of the leading IT companies in Switzerland. Since its inception in 2007, Swisscom has acquired minority stakes in over 60 companies with a strong focus on digital media, IT and telecommunications. Swisscom Ventures offices are located in the innovation hubs of Switzerland (Zurich and Lausanne) and the USA (Silicon Valley). As a strategic investor, they invest in companies that are strategically relevant to the Swisscom business. In return, they offer entrepreneurs access to telecommunications expertise, technical infrastructure and marketing channels – in addition to financial support. For more information: www.swisscom.ch/ventures 

4FO Ventures is a Luxembourg domiciled fund, focused on early-stage companies in Switzerland. The fund invests in artificial intelligence-related projects and medtech companies, with a special emphasis on ethical and highly innovative projects. The 4FO team is composed of successful and seasoned entrepreneurs, who makes substantial efforts to support the portfolio companies in installing Good Management Practices very early on and provide networking. The fund is also engaged in the search for co-investors specialized in the industries of the portfolio companies on subsequent financing rounds. Luxrise 4FO Ventures is managed by Berger, van Berchem & Cie SA based in Geneva and Lausanne. 

HEMEX AG is a privately-owned Swiss investment and consulting company headquartered close to the Basel global life sciences hub, with its main focus to bring innovative drugs, medical devices and in vitro diagnostics to the market. HEMEX specializes in supporting early-stage startups, offering tailored solutions to accelerate the project into a successful and sustainable business. Additionally, HEMEX helps startups in their efforts to find non-dilutive and dilutive funding. More at www.hemex.eu 

Scailyte AG was founded in Luzern, Switzerland in July 2017. Scailyte is an ETH Zurich spin-off and is supported by Innosuisse (Swiss Innovation Agency). The company has gained recognition by winning several national and international startup competitions and is the beneficiary of significant research grants. Scailyte has a multi-disciplinary team with expertise in Cell Biology, Genetics, Artificial Intelligence, Software Development, Finance, Marketing and Sales. 

The ScaiVisionTM biomarker discovery platform delivers best-in-class performance for supervised pattern recognition analysis of single-cell data. The performance and clinically relevant application of the core deep learning algorithm of ScaiVision have been validated in several scientific papers and have resulted in patent-pending diagnostic applications. For more information, visit www.scailyte.com 

Source: Scailyte AG