£1.8m seed fundraise for biotechnology business
SynGenSys, a biotechnology spinout company from the University of Sheffield, has completed an angel-led £1.8m seed fundraise, as Dr Andy Racher steps in as its commercial operations director.
SynGenSys specialises in designing and constructing synthetic genetic components to advance next-generation biomedicines and biomanufacturing processes.
National law firm Freeths advised the spinout on the fundraise, with corporate finance advice provided by Translink.
Racher has over three decades of experience in the biotechnology sector.
He has previously held numerous senior positions at Lonza Biologics, a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO).
His roles at Lonza included director of R&D IP Strategy, associate director within the Future Technologies Group, head of Process Development Sciences, acting head of Cell Culture Process Development, and senior principal scientist of Cell Culture Process Development.
Peter Crawford
Freeths’ corporate partner, Peter Crawford, said: “Having recently advised on SynGenSys’ successful seed fundraise, it is great to see the company making real progress and Andy’s appointment is fundamental to support that growth. I’m confident he will be a great addition to the team.”
Racher said: “I am happy to be joining the SynGenSys team at such an exciting time in the company’s development, and I am looking forward to helping SynGenSys build out its market-facing commercial function.”
Professor David James, co-founder and chief technology officer of SynGenSys, added: “We are very pleased to have recruited someone of Andy’s calibre to our team.
“His is the first of a number of appointments that the company is looking to make as we start to offer our products and services to customers across the world.”
