Owlstone Medical Closes $58M Oversubscribed Financing Round

Owlstone Medical, the global leader in Breath Biopsy for applications in early disease detection and precision medicine, has closed its Series D financing round. Due to the high level of interest in this capital raise, the company has significantly exceeded its $50 million target, securing $58 million in funding (£42 million) and bringing the total raised to more than $150 million (£109 million) since its founding in 2016. The round was led by returning investor Horizons Ventures, which now takes a seat on Owlstone Medical’s Board, and is joined by other existing and high-profile new investors from Asia, the Middle East, and the United States.
 
Owlstone Medical has developed a unique proprietary platform in Breath Biopsy capable of both use in routine diagnostic testing and in biomarker discovery. Today, the company is generating revenue by providing research products and services to leading pharmaceutical and academic organizations as well as having a robust pipeline of Research Use Only (RUO) panels and diagnostic tests in development in lung cancer, liver disease, and respiratory disease. This financing will accelerate the development and commercialization of these tests and facilitate further advancements in the Breath Biopsy platform.
 
“Owlstone Medical continues to make tremendous progress, including major advancements in our Breath Biopsy platform such as the development of EVOC Probes; strong progress in our test pipeline with the launch of the Respiratory Diseases RUO Panel and the publication of key study results for liver disease; and entering into a partnership with Functional Gut Diagnostics for the provision of clinical tests for SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) and food intolerance,” said Billy Boyle, co-founder and CEO at Owlstone Medical. “We are thrilled to have the support of such highly respected investors as we strive to have a major impact on patient outcomes and the efficient delivery of healthcare resources and are very pleased to now welcome the experience and insight of Horizons’ Patrick Zhang to our board.”
 
Breath Biopsy represents an entirely new and non-invasive way to address two of the major challenges of healthcare today: early detection of disease and precision medicine. Breath Biopsy generates valuable disease insights by determining the chemical makeup of breath through the measurement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), gaseous molecules that can be sampled quickly and non-invasively. 
 
VOCs originate from all parts of the body as the end product of metabolic processes, making Breath Biopsy applicable to a wide range of diseases including cancer, liver disease, and respiratory disease. Breath also contains microscopic aerosol particles from the lungs and airways, which can contain a wide range of biomarkers including for infectious disease. Breath collection is carried out using Owlstone Medical’s ReCIVA Breath Sampler, which ensures reliable, reproducible collection of VOCs. Samples of exhaled breath are captured and stabilized on Breath Biopsy Cartridges, which can then be shipped to Owlstone Medical’s Breath Biopsy lab for analysis, using Thermo Fisher Scientific Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry or FAIMS to determine their VOC profile. Advanced data analytic techniques can then be applied in order to pinpoint the VOCs of interest. 
 
Owlstone Medical’s vision is to save 100,000 lives by realizing the enormous promise of breath-based diagnostics through the development and application of Breath Biopsy.

Patrick Zhang, Horizons Ventures, said, “Accurate biomarkers collected non-invasively will be important screening and diagnostic tools for the future of healthcare. We are excited that Owlstone Medical’s Breath Biopsy technology will be the basis for development of a set of important biomarkers that could gauge and safeguard our health painlessly and effectively.” 
 
Owlstone Medical’s Breath Biopsy platform includes ReCIVA, a proprietary sample collection device that can take stable breath samples anywhere, the world’s only commercial Breath Biopsy Laboratory located in Cambridge, U.K., with support through its office in Research Triangle Park, N.C., and the development of the world’s largest Digital Breath Biobank matched to patient phenotype. 
 
Owlstone Medical is deploying the platform to address some of the key challenges of 21st century healthcare. The focus is on the development of tests and RUO panels for the early detection of disease with an emphasis on cancer, and on precision medicine initially targeting liver and respiratory disease.