Clearbridge BioMedics完成由祥峰投资主导的B轮融资720万美元

2013年3月13日 新加坡Clearbridge BioMedics完成由祥峰投资主导的B轮融资720万美元，用于ClearCell™系统的开发。
其他投资方包括标新局起步发展公司(SPRING Seeds Capital)、明策BSA公司(Clearbridge BSA Pte Ltd)和Lu Yoh Chie先生，以及现有股东BioVeda。
ClearCell 系统由专利申请中的CTChip 组成，可以有效的从小量病患血液检体侦测并分离完整的循环肿瘤细胞。分离出的循环肿瘤细胞可直接在CTChip 染色进行鉴定与计数，或是取出进行更进一步的分子分析。 ClearCell 系统的目标是成为癌症检验、分期以及监控提供新世代非侵入性液态切片的革命性平台。

13 March 2013

Clearbridge BioMedics today announced that the company has successfully closed a S$9 million Series B financing.

This round of funding was led by Vertex Venture Holdings Ltd, the wholly-owned VC arm of Temasek Holdings. Other investors in this financing round include SPRING Seeds Capital, Clearbridge BSA Pte Ltd and Mr Lu Yoh Chie, and existing shareholder BioVeda.

Clearbridge BioMedics was also featured on the Singapore Business Roundup on Channel News Asia, which aired on 13th March 10:30pm regionally in Asia. 

For more information, please download Clearbridge Biomedics' official Press Release.

Clearbridge BioMedics raises S$9 million Series B  led by Vertex Venture
Funds will be used to develop the  company’s new generation  ClearCell™System
13 March 2013,  Singapore – Clearbridge  BioMedics  today  announced  that the
company  has  successfully  closed a  S$9 million Series B  financing. This  round of
funding  was led by Vertex Venture Holdings Ltd,  the wholly-owned VC arm  of
Temasek Holdings. Other investors in this financing round include SPRING Seeds
Capital, Clearbridge BSA Pte Ltd  and Mr Lu Yoh Chie, and existing shareholder
BioVeda.  The Series B  funds will be used to further develop the company’s
proprietary ClearCell™ System, which is  one of the first  non-biomarker based
systems commercially available to effectively detect, isolate and retrieve circulating
tumour cells (CTCs) from blood.
“Having already entered the cancer research market with its ClearCell™ System,
Clearbridge BioMedics is well-positioned to have a tremendous impact on the way
healthcare professionals screen, diagnose, treat and monitor cancer patients.  Our
investment focus has been to invest and build global champions. We see
Clearbridge BioMedics, with its leading world class technology platform, as being
one of them”, said Mr Chua Joo Hock, Managing Director and Chief Investment
Officer, Vertex Venture Management Pte Ltd.    Mr Chua, who will be joining the
Board of Directors of Clearbridge BioMedics, added: “We welcome Clearbridge
BioMedics into our international portfolio of innovative and promising technology
companies and look forward to working with the team.”
Clearbridge BioMedics’ proprietary ClearCell™ System  is sensitive and accurate
enough to detect and retrieve CTCs, which can be as rare as a few cells mixed with
billions of blood cells in a millilitre of blood. Clearbridge BioMedics will be using this
injection of funds to drive the development of its new generation ClearCell™ System,
which consists of the ClearCell™ unit and single-use CTChip®.
“Bringing on board these blue-chip investors, including entrepreneur and industry
leader, Mr Lu Yoh Chie, is a wonderful validation of the good work by the team” said
Mr Johnson Chen,  Managing Director  and  Co-Founder  of  Clearbridge BioMedics.
“We launched our ClearCell™ System for the cancer research market in 2011, and
have built up a strong customer base across Asia, Europe and the United States.
Moving forward, we wish to develop the system for further applications. This will
involve developing the next generation  system  to  improve its accuracy, sensitivity
and reliability. It is a very exciting time for us, and we plan to embark upon validation
trials later this year to show the applicability of the ClearCell™ System in a clinical
setting.”
In addition to Mr Chua,  Clearbridge BioMedics is  also expanding its Board of
Directors, with Mr Lu, who is the founder of Biosensors International,  being
appointed Chairman of the Board.
“I am delighted to be joining the Board of Directors and rendering my assistance to
the  management team. I  look forward to playing a role in  growing  Clearbridge
BioMedics into a world leading biomedical company” said Mr Lu.
Set up in late 2009, Clearbridge BioMedics is a spin-off company from the National
University of Singapore. In November 2012, Clearbridge BioMedics won all top three
awards  at  the  WSJ  Asian Innovation Award,  which were presented by The Wall
Street Journal in partnership with Credit Suisse. The Company’s co-founder/ inventor
has also been awarded the prestigious  Singapore President’s Technology Award
2011, as well as the  NUS Engineering Faculty Research Award 2011 and  IES
Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award 2010.
Clearbridge BioMedics is ISO13485 certified for the development of cell-based invitro diagnostic devices.
- End -
About Clearbridge BioMedics Clearbridge BioMedics specializes in novel platforms with
applications in oncology research and diagnostics. It is a National University of Singapore (NUS)
spinoff  company that is committed to developing medical devices, which will impact the world and
revolutionize cancer diagnostics and patient care, by leveraging on ground-breaking technology from
research partners.
The ClearCell™ System comprises patent-pending CTChips®, which are microfluidic biochips able to
effectively detect,  isolate and also retrieve wholly-intact CTCs (Circulating Tumor Cells) from small
quantities of patient blood samples. The isolated CTCs can then be stained for identification and
enumeration, or retrieved for further molecular analysis. The ClearCell™ System aims to be the next
generation of non-invasive “liquid biopsy” approach for cancer screening, diagnosis, staging,
personalised medication, and treatment monitoring. Headquartered in Singapore, Clearbridge
BioMedics currently has customers spanning Asia, Europe and North America.
www.clearbridgebiomedics.com
About Vertex Venture Holdings    Vertex Venture Holdings Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Temasek Holdings, investing in emerging companies throughout Greater Asia and the US.
Since inception in 1988,  Vertex has invested in more than 350 start-up companies,  achieving
substantial returns for investors, while helping over 150  portfolio companies realise their intrinsic
value, through listings on capital markets in the US, Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and 3
Clearbridge BioMedics Pte Ltd, 20 Ayer Rajah Crescent, #08-03 Technopreneur Centre, Singapore 139964
acquisitions by industry leaders.  Headquartered in Singapore, with regional offices in Beijing,
Shanghai (China), Taipei (Taiwan), Bangalore (India) and the Silicon Valley (USA), Vertex seeks to
leverage the far-reaching network presence  and combined experience  to create value for both
investors and portfolio companies. www.vertexmgt.com
About  BioVeda   BioVeda Capital is a venture capital firm focused exclusively on  investing in
healthcare. It has invested in many biomedical companies with leading proprietary technologies and
outstanding scientific and management talent. With its headquarters in Singapore and a deep
international network, BioVeda has a strong combination of broad scientific and medical expertise,
and financial and investment experience to assist partner companies. Its portfolio includes companies
in Singapore, China, Britain and the United States - one of which was acquired by Pfizer, another by
Roche, and two that went public on NASDAQ. www.biovedavc.com
About Clearbridge BSA Pte Ltd   As part of the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2015
plan, the  Singapore  government has approved the establishment of  Sector Specific Accelerators
(SSA) to identify, invest and grow start-ups in strategic but nascent sectors, starting with the
Biomedical Science Sector. S$40 million has been set aside to pilot the SSA initiative via the
Biomedical Science Accelerator (BSA) with an initial focus on the Medical Technology subsector.
Clearbridge BSA Pte Ltd has been appointed as one of two BSA operator. SPRING SEEDS Capital
(SSC), the manager of the BSA Programme, will co-invest in the start-ups identified by Clearbridge
BSA on a 1:1 basis.  www.clearbridgebsa.com
About SPRING SEEDS Capital   SPRING SEEDS Capital, an investment arm of SPRING Singapore,
co-invests with independent investor(s) into commercially viable Singapore-based start-ups with
innovative and strong intellectual content that are scalable across international markets. It currently
manages 3 funds under its portfolio - SPRING Start-up Enterprise Development Scheme (SPRING
SEEDS), Business Angel Scheme (BAS) and the Biomedical Sciences Accelerator (BSA). For more
information on the funding programs, please visit www.spring.gov.sg 
Media enquiries can be directed to:
Chan Yiu Lin (Ms)
Greener Grass Communications
Mobile: (65) 9-765 5897
Email: media@clearbridgeaccelerator.com
 

CTC Technology Firm Clearbridge Raises $7.2M

 Singapore cancer diagnostics firm Clearbridge BioMedics announced on Wednesday the closing of a Series B financing round, bringing in S$9.0 million (US$7.2 million).

The financing will be used to further develop Clearbridge's ClearCell System, a non-biomarker-based platform for detecting, isolating, and retrieving circulating tumor cells from blood. The system consists of the ClearCell unit and single-use microfluidic biochips called CTChips.

The platform was launched in 2011 for the cancer research market, and Clearbridge intends to build out the technology for further applications, which will involve developing a next-generation system for improved accuracy, sensitivity, and reliability, according to Johnson Chen, managing director and co-founder of Clearbridge.

"It is a very exciting time for us and we plan to embark upon validation trials later this year to show the applicability of the ClearCell System in a clinical setting," he said in a statement.

The Series B round was led by Vertex Venture Holdings, the wholly owned venture capital arm of Temasek Holdings. Also participating were Spring Seeds Capital, Clearbridge BSA and Lu Yoh Chie, and existing shareholder BioVeda.

Clearbridge added that Chua Joo Hock, managing director and chief investment officer of Vertex is joining the board of the company, as is Lu, the founder of Biosensors International, who is being appointed chairman.

Clearbridge was spun out of the National University of Singapore in 2009 and is ISO13485 certified for developing cell-based in vitro diagnostic devices.