Modular multi-material 3D bioprinting solution hopes to develop cost-effective answer to global need for kidney transplants.
Turku-based bioprinting start-up Brinter has today announced the successful closure of a €1.2m seed funding round led by early-stage VC Innovestor. The company will use the capital to further expand its operations internationally in Europe and the US with the aim of putting bioprinting within reach of every pharmaceutical company, hospital, university and research centre.
Longevity.Technology: Medical research facilities and universities often still rely on traditional methods of discovery in the research of new drugs, understanding diseases and finding medical ways to help people. Brinter’s modular multi-material 3D bioprinting solution could offer a quality, yet cost-effective approach that would both shorten and enhance the productivity of the scientific discovery process for bio-manufacturing. In addition, it is a solution that easily scales as technologies develop.
Brinter, which is based in Turku in Finland, aims to remove technology as a limitation to improving our quality of life. The company also seeks to save more lives through personalised treatment and the production of “spare parts” such as hearts and kidneys.
“We are excited to have the backing of Innovestor who can help us accelerate the development of our operational capabilities and scale in new geographies,” says Brinter CEO Tomi Kalpio. “Bioprinting has the capability to rapidly unlock the opportunities behind long-running but unrealized science and research, and plays a key role in pushing the frontier of medical science. This will result in an improved quality of life for patients through the expansion of more personalized treatment and the ongoing development of bioprinted “spare parts” that can save lives.”
The testing lab at Brinter.
This market is demonstrating strong growth as accelerated technological, material and methodological developments expand the potential applications for 3D-bioprinting. Brinter hopes to speed up this scientific development by a factor of up to ten.
“Companies like Brinter are paving the way for 3D bioprinting, revolutionizing the future of medicine to the point where a customized heart or kidney can be made for a transplant patient. We are very excited to be a part of Brinter’s journey!” says Wilhelm Lindholm, CEO of Innovestor.
“Brinter is an exciting addition to our portfolio as it not only fits in our focus areas of industrial and health technologies, but the company’s competitive advantages of multi-material printing capabilities, modularity, and scalability combined with their own easy-to-use software application were very convincing.”
Customers of the company include bio and pharmaceutical companies such as Nanoform, as well as research organisations like VTT, BEST group at the University of Glasgow, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, the University of Oulu and the University of Helsinki.
“The printing of a new kidney for a transplant patient from programmed stem cells is a highly promising opportunity and could be realized already within this decade,” estimates Professor of Developmental Biology and Research Director of the Kvantum Institute Seppo Vainio from the University of Oulu. “There is a worldwide need for kidney transplants due to the rising incidence of diabetes, for example. Even the COVID-19 disease can lead to acute kidney failure, so there’s a great need for printed organ transplants and we look forward to the achievements that we will be able to reach using Brinter.”
“I am extremely excited to continue our 3D brain printing project with Brinter,” comments Jari Koistinaho, MD, PhD, Professor of Regenerative Medicine, University of Eastern Finland and Director of Neuroscience Center & Professor of Neuropharmacology at the University of Helsinki. The brain is an extremely vulnerable organ and target of various incurable diseases with the highest societal impact. Combined with two other rapidly-developing technologies – stem cells and biomaterials – 3D-bioprinting will soon provide us with fine-tuned human mini-brains and brain prosthetics, thereby deepening our understanding of the human mind and our ability to combat serious brain disorders.”
Brinter has bootstrapped its growth since 2019, when it launched its first product, and is currently active in over 10 countries, including Germany and the UK. The company is also aware of the rise of interest in personalised medicine, leading to customisable, patient-specific drugs and is exploring how 3D bioprinting can tailor the geometry of a drug tablet to impact drug loading, release rate and taste.
