UK lab automation firm raises $40m to accelerate growth
The UK robot-maker and laboratory automation specialist Automata Technologies has raised $40m to accelerate its growth and presence in the US, UK and EMEA. The is follows $50m raised in January 2022 which enabled it to achieve its initial commercialisation and expansion plans. Since then, Automata has seen 150% revenue growth, and a 12-fold increase in live system hours in customer systems.
Automata was founded in 2015 by two former architects to develop low-cost, easy-to-use collaborative robots. During the Covid pandemic, it focussed its attention on the massive new market for automated laboratory testing and found success in this specialised area. Its customers include NHS Trusts, academic institutions, and pharma and biotech companies such as Astra Zeneca and bit.bio.
Automata’s technologies help to cut drug development and testing timelines, costs and error rates. Its LINQ platform makes it easy for science labs of all sizes to adopt automation.
“The last two years have been hugely exciting at Automata as we’ve seen LINQ increase the scale of customer workflows as well as meaningfully increasing their ability to generate high-quality data – accelerating their pace of discovery and experimentation,” says Automata’s co-founder and CEO, Mostafa Elsayed. “Achieving a fundraise with exciting and experienced investors in a pretty challenging funding environment is a real endorsement of the potential and capabilities of our lab automation platform and the work the team has achieved."
Automata is based in London, and has a US operation in Boston.
