EverQuest and CPI back Qkine in £1.6 million funding round

EverQuest and CPI have invested in Qkine Limited as part of an oversubscribed £1.5 million Pre-Series A funding round, alongside Parkwalk and EMV.

Solving a critical bottleneck in stem cell science

Qkine is a Cambridge-based biotechnology company producing ultra-pure, animal-origin-free bioactive growth factors - critical reagents used in stem cell research, cell and gene therapy, and cellular agriculture. Its ISO 9001:2015-certified proprietary manufacturing platform is designed to deliver superior lot-to-lot consistency compared with legacy suppliers, addressing a well-documented challenge across these markets.

Growth factors are complex proteins that are notoriously difficult to manufacture consistently at scale while retaining the biological activity researchers require. Lot-to-lot variability can undermine reproducibility, and proteins such as FGF-2 are unstable in liquid storage and represent a significant cost driver in iPSC and organoid workflows. At the same time, the industry is moving decisively towards animal-origin-free, chemically defined reagents as research progresses towards clinical manufacturing. Qkine's platform has been built around these requirements, combining proprietary recombinant protein production with advanced protein engineering.

Positioned in a fast-growing market

The global stem cell sector was worth approximately $15 billion in 2024 and is growing at around 11% annually, with hundreds of clinical trials underway and more than ten major pharmaceutical companies now running stem cell programmes. Qkine has built a catalogue of more than 100 products covering approximately 90% of key stem cell growth factors, serving both core research and fast-growing, protein-intensive applications including organoids and 3D culture, organ-on-chip models, and cultivated meat.

Strong commercial traction

That breadth has translated into commercial traction: more than 400 customers across 37 countries, a repeat order rate above 80%, and a multi-channel model spanning direct e-commerce, a global distributor network and corporate OEM partnerships. A US subsidiary has been incorporated to support direct sales in the company's largest individual market. The funding will support US commercial expansion, EU and US logistics hubs, GMP product launches and key patent filings.

An experienced leadership team

Qkine's leadership combines deep scientific expertise with commercial and entrepreneurial experience. CEO Dr Rob Scoffin is a serial life science entrepreneur who has helped raise more than $100 million across previous ventures. CSO and co-founder Dr Marko Hyvönen is a Cambridge structural biochemist with more than 20 years' experience producing complex proteins, and runs the growth factor core facility supporting the University of Cambridge's stem cell research consortium. Commercial Director Rob Nixon has held senior roles at Fujifilm, GE Healthcare and Merck, and Executive Chair Laurence Ede was previously at Tocris Bioscience. The core executive team has worked together for more than five years, and management co-invested in the round alongside external investors.

Why we invested

Hannah Wade, said: "Qkine addresses a genuine bottleneck in stem cell science. Producing complex, biologically active proteins consistently and at scale is a hard technical problem, and Qkine has built a proprietary manufacturing platform and years of process know-how around solving it. Combined with a strong commercial track record and an experienced team, it's exactly the kind of business we look to back."

Dr Rob Scoffin, CEO of Qkine, said: "This investment is a strong endorsement of the progress we've made and our vision for the future. As demand continues to grow for reproducible, animal-origin-free reagents that support next-generation cell therapies and stem cell research, this funding will help us accelerate our growth, expand our product portfolio and serve customers developing the medicines of tomorrow."

A strategically valuable sector

The investment also sits within a sector that has attracted significant strategic M&A, including Thermo Fisher Scientific's $1.8 billion acquisition of PeproTech and Sartorius's $222 million acquisition of CellGenix. Qkine's combination of proprietary engineered proteins, scalable manufacturing expertise, growing GMP capabilities and food-grade positioning creates multiple potential avenues for long-term strategic value as demand for high-quality growth factors continues to expand.