A biotechnology company started out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has raised $2.3 million almost entirely from investors within the state.
Immuto Scientific Inc. plans to use its $2.3 million in seed funding for equipment and staffing needed to take its analytical research services to market with pharmaceutical companies, according to a recent announcement. It says its technology will make drug discovery and development more efficient.
The company has customers but declined to disclose them due to confidentiality agreements, Immuto Scientific CEO and co-founder Faraz Choudhury said.
Wisconsin Investment Partners (WIP) led the round. Madison's Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), Green Bay's Tundra Angels, and Milwaukee's BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation Inc., Golden Angels Investors and Milwaukee Venture Partners also invested, as did New York City's Great Oaks Venture Capital.
Choudhury founded Immuto Scientific in August 2018 with Daniel Benjamin, who serves as the chief technology officer. The company currently has four employees and plans to add four more within the next 12 months, Choudhury said.
Immuto Scientific's proprietary technology aims to make drug discovery faster, more accurate and less expensive, according to the company. Its findings have been published in peer-reviewed journals Scientific Reports and the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology.
"We’re putting to use our cutting-edge technologies to accelerate the drug discovery process and help develop new lifesaving therapeutics,” Choudhury said in a statement.
The company developed its technology with $1.4 million in non-dilutive funds through a collaboration between the electrical engineering and biochemistry departments at UW-Madison, according to Immuto Scientific.
WIP co-manager Matt Kelly is a member of Immuto Scientific's board, along with WARF's senior director of ventures and accelerator Greg Keenan, former UW-Madison chancellor John Wiley and Immuto Scientific chief financial officer Brad Chandler.
"Immuto’s technology will revolutionize high-resolution structural characterization and pave the way for the drugs of the future,” Kelly said in a statement.
Immuto Scientific is based at 504 S. Rosa Road in Madison.
