INSIGHTS / News

SETsquared Exeter member, SENISCA has secured an additional £3.7m investment to support the rapid development of its senotherapeutic platform to treat age-related diseases.

The university spin-out and former Scale-Up Programme member has developed a proprietary technology that harnesses RNA biology to reprogramme aged ‘senescent’ cells – a variation which behaves differently to their younger and healthier counterparts. These cells, often present in ageing tissues and organs with a pro-inflammatory profile and disrupted function are emerging as factors present within age-related diseases.

Now, this latest funding round, which has seen the company raise £3.7m, has been led with significant backing from SENSICA’s existing investor base, including Emerging Longevity Ventures, QantX, Trend Investment Group, the R42 Group and Apex Ventures. Additional investment has come from a new investor partner, Lifespan Vision Ventures.

Since the company’s inception in 2020, SENSICA has been working to develop a solution focusing on a druggable component of the cellular senescence response, which can be specifically applied to a number of age-related diseases including those of the lungs, eyes, joints and brain.

Investment raised will support SENISCA in kickstarting the pre-clinical development of its senotherapeutic programmes.

Dr Sarah Cole, CEO, SENISCA, commented: “This financing round represents another significant milestone for SENISCA. We’ve raised nearly double the previous rounds, enabling us to accelerate the development of our highly promising pipeline through preclinical stages and towards benefiting patients in the clinic.”

“We thank our investors for their continued support and look forward to rapidly advancing towards our goal of becoming a world leader in the development and use of senotherapeutics that target cellular ageing to treat complex disease.”

Allan Weiner, Investment Director, Emerging Longevity Ventures commented, “We are very excited to extend our investment in SENISCA and its ground-breaking technology. With exceptional foundational data, the company has made significant progress since incorporation in the development of a novel and broadly applicable senotherapeutic platform that overcomes the limitations of other senescence-targeting approaches.”

Richard Haycock, CEO, QantX, added, “We are delighted to further invest in SENISCA, having been an early investor in the company. SENISCA has undergone a significant and rapid development and QantX is looking forward to working with the team to realise the full potential of the company’s disruptive senotherapeutic technology.”