British Business Bank leads Microbiotica's GBP 36 million Series C

Microbiotica, a developer of oral microbiome medicines based near Cambridge, said on 16 October 2026 that it had completed the first close of a GBP 36 million (USD 48 million) Series C financing led by the British Business Bank. Tencent, IP Group, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Flerie Invest and Seventure Partners also took part, and all existing Series B investors participated, the company said.

Microbiotica did not disclose its valuation, the share of the company sold or whether more money is expected after this first close. IP Group, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, said in an announcement the same day that it invested GBP 4 million in the round and that after second completion it will have an undiluted beneficial holding of 16.4 per cent in Microbiotica, valued at GBP 24.1 million.

What the money is for

The company said the proceeds will take its lead product, MB310, into a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 trial in ulcerative colitis. The company describes MB310 as a once-daily oral capsule made up of eight live gut bacterial strains. According to Microbiotica, its COMPOSER-1 Phase 1b study met its primary and secondary endpoints and showed statistically significant improvements in clinical remission compared with placebo. The announcement did not give the study’s size, cite a peer-reviewed publication or say when the Phase 2 trial will start or report.

Microbiotica is also running a Phase 1b study of a melanoma candidate, MB097, given with MSD’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab), which the company says has met its trial endpoints and is in an extension phase. Spun out of the Wellcome Sanger Institute in 2016, it lists partnerships with MSD, Cancer Research UK, Genentech, the University of Adelaide and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and says it has received financial support from the US-based Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.

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.

Carmine Circelli, Senior Investment Director, Life Sciences, British Business Bank

A busy week for UK health deals

The first close was announced in the same week that Stryker agreed to invest about USD 400 million in CMR Surgical, the Cambridge surgical robotics company. Startupmag, which tracks UK start-up funding, counted GBP 877.6 million raised by UK start-ups across all sectors between 12 and 16 October, with healthtech and biotech rounds among the largest. Tim Sharpington, Microbiotica’s chief executive, said the company had also been developing a scalable and cost-effective manufacturing process alongside its clinical work.

Our reading

• The Healthcare Daily’s reading: the British Business Bank led this clinical-stage round rather than following others, and its statement frames the investment as building the UK’s life sciences market. For UK biotech founders, that makes the bank a possible lead investor at Series C, not only a co-investor.
• IP Group’s disclosure is the only public marker of value: a 16.4 per cent holding valued at GBP 24.1 million. That is the value IP Group gave for its own stake, not a round price published by Microbiotica, and the terms of the second completion are not public.
• For NHS research partners and the pharma companies Microbiotica already works with, the Phase 2 trial is where the company’s Phase 1b claims will be tested in a larger randomised study. Until a timetable is given, the commercial value of MB310 remains hard to judge.