Tissue engineering startup Spiderwort raises $17.1 million CAD to move to clinical trials

Spiderwort's CelluBridge product
Spiderwort’s plant-based scaffolding can be used in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.

Ottawa-based biotech company Spiderwort has secured $17.1 million CAD ($13.2 million USD) in its Series A round led by Horizons Ventures.

“Spiderwort was founded on asking big questions and taking big risks and that work is now paying off.”
– Andrew Pelling, Spiderwort’s CSO

The financing also saw participation from K5 Global, BoxOne Ventures, Break Off Capital, Capital Angel Network, Anges Québec and other undisclosed investors.

According to Spiderwort, this latest investment round will support the company as it transitions from pre-clinical studies to clinical trials, which Spiderwort said was critical in bringing its products to market.

Founded in 2015 and led by Charles Cuerrier (CEO) and Andrew Pelling (CSO), Spiderwort uses cellulose-based biomaterials to engineer living scaffolds for a variety of regenerative medicine applications. The company’s Aerocell and Hydrocell technology platforms provide clinicians and research teams with control over stiffness, shape, textures, and long-range architectures to stimulate and control tissue regeneration.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designated Spiderwort’s Cellubridge product as a “Breakthrough Device” in 2020. This designation is part of an FDA program meant to accelerate the assessment and review processes to get products to market quicker.

RELATED: Spiderwort closes $3.4 million CAD in seed financing

In addition to Cellubridge, which promotes the repair and regeneration of the spinal cord, Spiderwort is also developing CelluJuve, a dermal filler that can address different use cases such as injury recovery and cosmetic enhancement.

“The results in the lab are very encouraging,” said Pelling. “Spiderwort was founded on asking big questions and taking big risks and that work is now paying off.”

With this latest round, Spiderwort has raised $16.1 million to date. This amount includes a $3.4 million CAD ($2.5 million USD) seed round it announced in 2020, which Horizons Ventures also led. In 2019, Spiderwort raised $500,000 in a friends and family round.

Spiderwort has also previously received funding from the Ontario Brain Institute, the Ontario Centres of Excellence, and Invest Ottawa.

Featured image from Spiderwort’s website.

Charlize Alcaraz

Charlize Alcaraz

Charlize Alcaraz is a staff writer for BetaKit.

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