Microbiotica, a British clinical-stage biopharma company developing a pipeline of orally-dosed, precision microbiome medicines, today announces the first close of a €42 million (£36 million) Series C financing.
The financing was led by British Business Bank, with participation from Tencent, IP Group, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Flerie Invest, and Seventure Partners. All existing Series B investors participated in the financing.
Tim Sharpington, Chief Executive Officer of Microbiotica, says: “This financing marks an important next stage for Microbiotica and reflects the significant progress we have made in translating our powerful genomics-driven microbiome platform into clinical-stage products, alongside developing a scalable and cost-effective manufacturing process.
“We are thankful for the support received from our investors and are now focused on taking MB310 into Phase 2 clinical development, where we have an opportunity to further establish MB310 as a breakthrough treatment option for people living with ulcerative colitis.”
Microbiotica’s financing comes amid several related European biotech investments in 2026.
Germany’s mbiomics secured a further €12 million to advance microbiome-based therapeutics, bringing its Series A to €30 million, while UK-based OutPost Bio raised €2.9 million to expand its human microbiology modelling platform.
In related therapeutic and drug-discovery fields, France’s Bionyra Pharma secured €143 million to develop treatments for inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, while Paris-based Generare raised €20 million for microbial-genome-based drug discovery.
In the UK, London-based Alchemab Therapeutics also received €29.3 million from the British Business Bank to advance its clinical pipeline.
Together, these announcements represent approximately €207.2 million in newly reported financing, rising to €249.2 million when Microbiotica’s €42 million Series C first close is included.
Carmine Circelli, Senior Investment Director, Life Sciences at the British Business Bank, adds: “We believe Microbiotica is emerging as a world leader in the development of microbiome therapeutics. Its Phase 1b study in ulcerative colitis produced statistically significant clinical remission, best in disease potential with no safety issues. This funding allows the Company to move MB310 forward into a Phase 2 trial which, if it confirms the promise seen in Phase 1b, has the potential to be a major breakthrough in the treatment of ulcerative colitis.
“By investing in companies like Microbiotica, we help the UK’s most promising life sciences companies to convert research into treatments while also building the UK’s thriving life sciences market.”
Founded in 2016 and spun out of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Microbiotica develops a genomics-driven microbiome platform which combines a diverse microbiome culture collection, a proprietary human Reference Genome Database, advanced bioinformatics, and machine learning tools.
When this platform is applied to clinical trial datasets, it can identify bacteria associated with favourable clinical trial outcomes in specific patient populations.
The Company has established partnerships with MSD, Cancer Research UK, Genentech, The University of Adelaide and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Dr Sam Williams, Venture Partner at IP Group, says: “We have been very impressed by Microbiotica’s progress since we first invested in the Company, from translating pioneering microbiome science from the Wellcome Sanger Institute into a powerful genomics-driven microbiome platform that has generated promising efficacy in two Phase 1b clinical trials.
“There is an important opportunity to advance Microbiotica’s precision microbiome approach into a larger clinical study, and we are pleased to continue supporting the Company as it enters this next phase of development.”
According to the company, ulcerative colitis is the most common form of inflammatory bowel disease and is a major debilitating disease that affects up to 5 million people globally. Despite available treatments, the company says many patients do not achieve or maintain remission, highlighting the need for new therapeutic approaches.
This is where their MB310 capsule comes into play. MB310 is a once-daily oral capsule comprised of a consortium of eight specific live gut commensal bacterial strains. Its differentiated mechanism of action promotes gut epithelial barrier repair and delivers anti-inflammatory effects, directly addressing the key drivers of disease which, together with its favourable safety profile, makes it ideally placed to be combined with existing ulcerative colitis products.
Today’s proceeds will support the advancement of MB310 into Phase 2 clinical development in ulcerative colitis, following positive results from the COMPOSER-1 Phase 1b study. MB310 also showed disease modifying potential through improvements in histological measures and markers of intestinal epithelial barrier integrity.
Along with this, the company is advancing MB097, its precision microbiome asset for patients with advanced melanoma.
