MORF-Bio secures pre-seed funding to transform bioinformatics for biotechnology
MORF-Bio is delighted to announce the successful closing of its pre-seed funding round to accelerate development of its microbial bioinformatics software.
MORF-Bio helps to expedite life sciences R&D by turning complex biological data into actionable insights, making bioinformatics and bioprocess data more accessible and informative for biotechnology. The funding will enable the company to expand its online platform, build new tools for microbial genome analysis, and grow its team to meet increasing demand from researchers and industry.
This funding marks a major milestone for MORF-Bio. We’re excited to accelerate our work with biologists to develop powerful tools that unlock the full potential of microbial data.
said Joyce Bennett Co-Founder and CEO of MORF-Bio.
As a spin out the University of York, MORF-Bio leverages a position at the cutting edge of biotechnology. CSO Prof. Gavin Thomas said:
Reorganising and visualising data in new ways dramatically shortens the time to insight, opening the door to discoveries in biology that would otherwise remain hidden. With this funding, we can scale MORF-Bio to help biotech companies and researchers accelerate R&D, reduce costs, and bring innovations to market faster.
Though just spun out of the university, MORF-Bio already has multiple live and paying customers for tools including the bioprocess platform, that simplifies data analysis from fermentations, and bioinformatics tools for assembling, comparing, and analysing microbial genomes.
The round was led by Deeptech Seed Fund and the syndicate includes a member of the York Angels investment group.
The MORF-Bio team are also grateful to the University of York’s Commercialisation Team, whose mentorship and expertise were pivotal in transforming academic research into a thriving spin-out by guiding strong funding applications to Northern Accelerator, the ICURe programme, and BBSRC, while safeguarding IP and supporting contract negotiations to accelerate the journey from idea to impact.
James Kitson, Head of Commercialisation at the University of York, said:
We are delighted to see MORF-Bio successfully spin out from the University. This achievement demonstrates the strength of York’s research base and our commitment to supporting entrepreneurial academics on their journey to impact. With a growing pipeline of spin-outs each year, MORF-Bio highlights how York is building a reputation at the forefront of translating world-class science into commercial success stories.
