Portal Biotechnologies, Inc., a Cambridge, MA-based cell engineering platform company, raised $5M in pre-seed funding.
The round was led by Pear VC, with participation from Conscience VC and 10x Capital.
The company intends to use the funds the proceeds for continued development and commercialization of cell engineering platform technology across research and clinical applications.
Founded by Armon Sharei, Ph.D., founder and former CEO of SQZ Biotechnologies, Portal is implementing a simplified approach to intracellular delivery, focused on accelerating advances in RNA, gene editing, and AI-driven discovery technologies. Its initial product suite is based on next generation mechanical delivery technology capable of delivering many different types of cargo into a broad range of cell types. The process relies on transient perturbation of a cell’s membrane as it transits through microscopic holes in a thin, specially designed, silicon surface. This approach has been shown to enable delivery of a variety of molecules into cells, including siRNA, mRNA, polypeptides, antibodies and CRISPR RNP complexes, both individually and simultaneously, for multiplexed cell function modification.
Beyond Portal’s initial focus is on supplying enabling technology for wide ranging research and clinical applications while in the future the company aims to develop a suite of cell modification modules. These modules will contain various cell modifying cargoes that can impart specific functionality in a cell without altering the genome.
The company has had over 20 active partners to date, ranging from large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to leading academic institutions.
FinSMEs
19/03/2024