Kitchener life sciences tech company receives more than $20M in funding to expand

Kitchener-based company Nicoya Lifesciences announced earlier this week that they had received $20M in Series A funding to further their development of life science tools and expand their global reach, bringing their total raised funding to $35M since inception. 

Nicoya, who was recently in the spotlight for receiving federal funding for a COVID-19 rapid test, specializes in innovative biosensor technology for academic, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors, providing scientists with user-friendly and integrated solutions that accelerate label-free biomolecular analysis, helping hundreds of scientists in more than 50 countries.

The funding extension was led by Whitecap Venture Partners, and included participation from Agilent Technologies, Export Development Canada, BDC Capital, MaRS IAF and Garage Capital, among others.

The additional funding will help them to expand into new international markets, and continue to develop and commercialize their innovative surface plasmon resonance platform, Alto™, which digitalizes label-free protein characterization.

Their technology aims to help scientists better understand and treat diseases by providing them with best-in-class tools for scientific discovery. 

“The team at Nicoya is building disruptive tools for disease and drug discovery research,” said Russell Samuels, Partner at Whitecap Venture Partners. “Their technology is being used every day by scientists who develop life-saving drugs and make key findings about common diseases that affect our lives. As a repeat investor, we are proud to continue our partnership with Nicoya.”

Previous Series A funding in early 2020 allowed them to grow to a team of more than 100 employees and launch the early adopter program for Alto. 

“We are entering into the next era of proteomics, the growth of which parallels that of the genomics industry,” said Ryan Denomme, CEO and Co-Founder of Nicoya. “This additional funding enables us to continue building innovative tools that will support the needs of this rapidly evolving industry. We are grateful that our investors and the broader industry see the opportunity and support the path we are forging to provide best-in-class digital proteomics solutions.”