UK’s CellRev to enter administration and selling its assets due to funding issues

UK – CellRev, a UK biotechnology company specializing in enzyme technology for cultivated meat, regenerative medicine and vaccine development, has ceased operations and entered administration.

The Newcastle-based firm, formally known as CellulaREvolution, appointed Ed Connell and Mike Kienlen from Armstrong Watson as joint administrators on August 12.

According to a statement from Armstrong Watson, all staff have been made redundant, while Hilco Valuation Services has been tasked with managing the sale of the company’s assets.

Chief executive Chris Green said the company was unable to reach its commercial targets in time to attract Series A funding, adding that the investment climate has become much more challenging compared to 2021.

Background and expansion efforts

CellRev was founded in 2018 as a spin-out from Newcastle University, introducing an enzymatic platform designed to overcome longstanding barriers in cell culture manufacturing.

Its products were aimed at reducing costs and improving efficiency in large-scale production for biopharma companies, vaccine manufacturers, regenerative medicine developers and cultivated meat startups.

The company’s product line included AggreGuard, a blend of enzymes that prevents cells from clumping during production, and Continuase, a continuous processing enzyme system that enables longer production runs with reduced downtime.

Over the years, the startup secured several funding rounds, including US$1.5 million (£1.2 million) in 2021, US$2.2 million (£1.75 million) in 2022, and US$1.8 million (£1.4 million) in 2023, along with a US$420,000 (£330,000) grant from Innovate UK.

In December 2023, CellRev partnered with BSF Enterprise, the parent company of 3D Bio-Tissues, to form Cultivated Meat Technologies Limited, which aimed to mass-produce cultivated meat fillets and secure licensing deals with producers.

However, the joint venture collapsed later that year when BSF decided to withdraw and pursue other approaches to cultivated meat production with European food processors.

Shifts in strategy and closure

Following turbulence in the cultivated meat sector from late 2022, CellRev pivoted towards focusing only on reagents for the life sciences market, with vaccines becoming its main area of work.

The company signed pilot projects, secured its first pharmaceutical evaluation, and developed distributor relationships, but these efforts failed to provide the momentum needed to sustain operations.

Green said the technology remained valuable and relevant, but the company ran out of time to meet investment and commercial timelines.

The administrators are now seeking buyers for CellRev’s intellectual property, including its brand, trademarks, patent filings, products, website and domain, as well as equipment such as bioreactors, centrifuges and microscopes.

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