Avigen
Avigen is a London-based CRO, spun out of Imperial College London in 2025, that operates a proprietary microfluidic platform measuring cellular avidity under physiological shear to discover and validate cell-based immunotherapies for biotech and pharma clients.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2025
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Avigen does
Avigen is a UK-based Contract Research Organisation spun out of Imperial College London in March 2025, developing a proprietary microfluidic platform that measures cellular avidity — the total binding strength between living immune cells and target tumour cells — under physiologically relevant dynamic shear forces. The platform is positioned as the first technology capable of directly measuring, sorting, and isolating viable immune cells based on avidity, enabling identification of therapeutically high-potential candidates from large heterogeneous populations, including TCR-T, CAR-T, CAR-iNKT, NK, CAR-NK, and γδ T cells. The company's scientific foundation rests on peer-reviewed work by co-founders Dr Sam Au and Dr Neelima KC (Ashby et al., 2022, Advanced Healthcare Materials), and the platform's avidity readouts have been validated against in-vivo MM1.S mouse tumour models, with high-avidity CAR-iNKT fractions showing approximately ten-fold greater CAR surface density than low-avidity counterparts.
Avigen operates two core service lines: an Immunotherapy Discovery Service (high-throughput avidity screening of millions of candidate cells to identify target-specific leads) and an Immunotherapy Validation Service (ranking and confirming lead candidates with preclinical data that correlates with in-vivo responses). Services are sold on a bespoke, project-by-project basis through direct scientific consultation with biotech and pharma clients developing cellular immunotherapies for solid tumours; pricing is not publicly disclosed. The commercial model is a sales-led CRO targeting enterprise R&D buyers, supported by case studies, LinkedIn presence, and active participation in UK innovation programmes including the White City Incubator, Scale Space, the DeepTech Catalyst Biotech Incubator (STFC/BBSRC), and the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub.
Revenue is not publicly disclosed, headcount is 1–10 employees, and the company has secured approximately £690k in cumulative non-dilutive funding (SFC Capital/British Business Bank seed round, Innovate UK ICURe Exploit grant, DeepTech Catalyst support) since incorporation. Co-founders Tobias Gamper (CEO) and Dr Neelima KC (COO/CSO) lead the company alongside Scientific Advisor Dr Sam Au of Imperial College London and Strategic Advisor Dr Andrew Fadden, with stated plans to launch commercial CRO offerings fully over the next 12–18 months and to expand internationally.
Avigen firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Avigen
- Legal name
- Avigen Ltd.
- Website
- https://avigen.bio/
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2025
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Avigen is a London-based CRO, spun out of Imperial College London in 2025, that operates a proprietary microfluidic platform measuring cellular avidity under physiological shear to discover and validate cell-based immunotherapies for biotech and pharma clients.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Avigen industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Preclinical Contract Research Services
- NAICS
- Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)
- SIC
- Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826), In Vitro & In Vivo Diagnostic Substances (2835)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Bioanalytical & Biomarker CROs (PK/PD/Immunogenicity) (HLAGAAAD)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Cell-Based & Potency Assays (Bioassays) (HLAGADAH)
Keywords
Where Avigen is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Avigen business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- CRO Preclinical Immunotherapy Services: Contract research organisation offering fee-for-service preclinical immunotherapy discovery and validation studies. Services include immunotherapy discovery (identifying target-specific leads) and immunotherapy validation (ranking and confirming lead candidates), priced on a per-project basis. Revenue is generated through project fees from biotech and pharma clients, with no public pricing disclosed.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Project-based CRO services — custom scope per engagement |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels5 records
Avigen product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Avigen is a Contract Research Organisation (CRO) providing preclinical immunotherapy discovery and validation services for cell therapy developers. Its proprietary microfluidic platform measures cellular avidity — the total binding strength between living immune cells and target tumour cells — under physiologically relevant dynamic shear forces. Services include the Immunotherapy Discovery Service (high-throughput identification and sorting of target-specific lead candidates) and the Immunotherapy Validation Service (ranking and confirming lead candidates with preclinical data that correlates with in-vivo outcomes), supporting TCR-T, CAR-T, CAR-iNKT, NK, CAR-NK, and γδ T cell programmes for solid tumours.
Product overview
Avigen is a Contract Research Organisation offering a proprietary microfluidic platform for immunotherapy R&D. The platform measures cellular avidity— the total binding strength between living immune and cancer cells— to identify, sort, and isolate the most potent immunotherapy candidates. The offering consists of two integrated service lines: the Discovery Service (for identifying target-specific leads from large candidate pools through high-throughput avidity screening) and the Validation Service (for ranking and confirming lead candidates with preclinical data correlating to in vivo responses), both powered by the core Avidity Microfluidic Platform technology.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Immunotherapy Discovery Service Discovery service that identifies target-specific leads amongst millions of potential candidates using high-throughput avidity screening, enabling the identification, sorting, and recovery of high-avidity immune cells from samples of unknown immune cells. Sold on a project basis to biotech and pharma companies developing cellular immunotherapies.
- Immunotherapy Validation Service Validation service that completes the immune cell data set and ranks candidates for confident translation, generating preclinical data that directly correlates with in-vivo responses for lead asset selection. Sold on a project basis to biotech and pharma companies developing cellular immunotherapies.
Quantifiable outcome
- High-avidity TCR T cells recovered with up to 100% purity from mixed populations within 30 minutes.
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Avigen
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Avigen technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature6 records
Avigen partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, key, supporting and foundational.
- EtcemblycoreCompleted collaboration evaluating AI-designed multi-specific cell engager therapeutics. Avigen assessed Etcembly's bi- and tri-specific T cell engagers alongside a competitor construct under dynamic conditions, enabling comparative analysis of immune engagement at the whole-cell level. The collaboration demonstrated the value of integrating AI-enabled biologics design with live-cell avidity evaluation.
- DeepTech Catalyst / STFC and BBSRCkeyAvigen was selected for the DeepTech Catalyst Biotech Incubator programme, receiving support worth up to £90,000 including research funding, access to specialist facilities across UKRI campuses, expert technical advice, and business mentoring. The programme is a collaboration between the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), both part of UK Research and Innovation.
- Royal Academy of EngineeringkeyNeelima KC, Avigen's Founder, was awarded the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowship through the Enterprise Hub. This 12-month programme provides structured business training, one-to-one mentoring, investor and partnership readiness support, and access to a national network of engineers, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders. The Academy has supported over 600 researchers and SME leaders, creating over 6,100 jobs and raising nearly £4 billion in funding.
- NK:IOcorePreclinical R&D collaboration to assess NK cell-based therapies combined with cell engagers for solid tumours. Avigen applied its high-throughput avidity platform to evaluate the efficacy of NK:IO's approaches, generating insights to support the development of more effective cancer immunotherapies. NK:IO is a biotechnology company pioneering off-the-shelf allogeneic NK cell therapies based on discoveries from Imperial College London.
- White City IncubatorsupportingAvigen joined the White City Incubator, located in the heart of the White City Innovation District. The world-class facility provides state-of-the-art laboratory space and positions Avigen within a dynamic ecosystem of life sciences and technology innovators, with proximity to Imperial College and Hammersmith Hospital.
- Imperial College LondonfoundationalAvigen was spun out from Imperial College London. The company maintains proximity to the college's research facilities through its location at Scale Space, White City. The platform technology originated from research conducted at Imperial, including foundational work by co-founders Dr Sam Au (Principal Investigator and Senior Lecturer in Bioengineering) and Dr Neelima KC (PhD in Bioengineering).
- Scale SpacesupportingAvigen's headquarters are located at Scale Space, White City, London. Scale Space is a business incubation and innovation campus that supports deep-tech and life sciences companies, providing flexible workspace and a community of entrepreneurial and scientific talent.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Avigen competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- IsoPexis (IsoPlexis): IsoPlexis provides single-cell functional proteomics (IsoLight/Isolab) used by cell therapy developers to characterise CAR-T polyfunctionality and potency. Comparable to Avigen as a single-cell functional characterisation platform serving the same immunotherapy preclinical/CMC buyer.
- PhenomeX (formerly Berkeley Lights): PhenomeX builds single-cell microfluidic platforms (Beacon, Lightning) widely used in antibody discovery and cell therapy characterisation. Direct comparability to Avigen stems from shared microfluidic single-cell workflow approach applied to live immune cell–target interaction analysis for cell therapy R&D.
- Cellular Technology Limited (CTL): CTL specialises in immune cell functional assays (ELISpot, ImmunoSpot) for immunotherapy research and clinical trial monitoring. Comparable to Avigen as a specialist immuno-oncology assay CRO addressing cell therapy developers' characterisation and immune-monitoring needs.
- ReachBio Research Labs: ReachBio is a CRO providing cell-based bioassays and flow cytometry services for immunology and cell therapy programmes. Directly comparable to Avigen's CRO business model and focus on functional immune cell assays.
- MaxCyte: MaxCyte provides electroporation and cell engineering instruments used across cell therapy development programmes. Comparable to Avigen because both target cell therapy process development teams and sell into the same biotech/pharma R&D buyer, though MaxCyte focuses on engineering rather than characterisation.
Broad incumbents
- Charles River Laboratories: Global CRO offering extensive cell therapy discovery, safety, and manufacturing services. While Avigen is a specialist preclinical avidity CRO, Charles River is a comparable buyer proxy because cell therapy developers typically evaluate Avigen-style assays alongside Charles River's broader preclinical portfolio.
- 10x Genomics: 10x Genomics provides single-cell immune profiling (Chromium, BAR/X) used throughout cell therapy and immuno-oncology R&D. Comparable to Avigen because biotech customers evaluating avidity-based characterisation typically already use 10x as part of their cell therapy preclinical workflow.
- Sony Biotechnology: Sony Biotechnology sells cell-sorting and flow cytometry platforms (CGX10, MA900) widely used to identify and isolate high-quality immune cell populations. Comparable to Avigen as an alternative workflow for label-based immune cell sorting in cell therapy R&D.
- Standard BioTools (formerly Fluidigm): Standard BioTools manufactures mass cytometry and imaging platforms (CyTOF, Hyperion) for high-dimensional immune cell profiling. Comparable to Avigen as an established instrumentation alternative for deep immune-cell characterisation in cell therapy programmes.
- Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD Biosciences): BD Biosciences manufactures flow cytometry, cell sorting, and immune cell analysis instrumentation (BD FACSDiscover, FACSChorus). Comparable to Avigen as a deep-pocketed incumbent whose instruments compete for the same cell therapy characterisation budget.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Avigen social profiles
Digital presenceAvigen financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Avigen leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Avigen funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Avigen M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Avigen
What does Avigen do?
Avigen is a Contract Research Organisation (CRO) providing preclinical immunotherapy discovery and validation services for cell therapy developers. Its proprietary microfluidic platform measures cellular avidity — the total binding strength between living immune cells and target tumour cells — under physiologically relevant dynamic shear forces. Services include the Immunotherapy Discovery Service (high-throughput identification and sorting of target-specific lead candidates) and the Immunotherapy Validation Service (ranking and confirming lead candidates with preclinical data that correlates with in-vivo outcomes), supporting TCR-T, CAR-T, CAR-iNKT, NK, CAR-NK, and γδ T cell programmes for solid tumours.
Is Avigen a public or private company?
Avigen is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Avigen founded?
Avigen was founded in 2025. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Avigen based?
Avigen is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Avigen make money?
One revenue line is on record: CRO Preclinical Immunotherapy Services.
Who are Avigen's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are IsoPexis (IsoPlexis), PhenomeX (formerly Berkeley Lights), Cellular Technology Limited (CTL), ReachBio Research Labs and MaxCyte. Broad incumbents are Charles River Laboratories, 10x Genomics, Sony Biotechnology, Standard BioTools (formerly Fluidigm) and Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD Biosciences).
Does Avigen have an API?
No public API is recorded for Avigen.
What industry is Avigen in?
Avigen's product category is Preclinical Contract Research Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAGAAAD, Bioanalytical & Biomarker CROs (PK/PD/Immunogenicity), with a secondary code of HLAGADAH, Cell-Based & Potency Assays (Bioassays). Its NAICS code is 541714 and its SIC code is 3826.