Cytophenix recently closed its pre-seed investment round having secured AUD $1.3 million
in funding commitments from new and existing investors. The round included participation
from clinicians, healthcare-focused family offices, founders, and returning investors. The
capital raised is well beyond the initial target for this round due to strong investment demand.
Cytophenix is a medical technology company developing a next generation rapid
antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) platform. The funding will be used to advance pilot
trials, expand the team, and accelerate its path towards commercialisation.
“Our AI-powered, cloud-hosted platform, FloCAST™ is designed to help clinician
administer the right antibiotics in hours instead of days, saving lives and helping to combat
antimicrobial resistance globally,” said Dr. Kieran Mulroney, CEO of Cytophenix. “This
investment will allow us to deepen relationships with international stakeholders and
commence pilot trials which will accelerate our go-to-market strategy.”
The funding follows key validation milestones including European and Australian patent
grants, preclinical trials demonstrating 1-3 day time savings versus current practice, and
successful completion of CSIRO’s ON Accelerate program. Cytophenix was also awarded
$1 million in non-dilutive grants from the CUREator program under the Health Security
Stream (managed by Brandon BioCatalyst, funded by CSIRO).
About Cytophenix
Cytophenix is a spin-out from The Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and the
University of Western Australia, based at the Centre for Entrepreneurial Research and
Innovation (CERI) in Perth. The company partners with Three Springs Technology for
development of the software. Find out more and connect here: https://cytophenix.com/
The need for rapid AST
For patients with serious infections, like the bloodstream infections that cause sepsis, getting
the right antibiotic is a time critical emergency. Every hour without the right antibiotic results
in ~ 9% increased risk of death. With timely AST results, doctors can have certainty about
the best antibiotic to use, and this helps them protect antibiotics from misuse and overuse,
which helps address the growing global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), as well as
freeing up hospital beds.