CIT Invests GAP Funds in Global Cell Solutions
Global Cell Solutions (GCS), a Charlottesville, Va.-based biotechnology company focused on the application of novel and dramatically improved cell culture technologies to human therapy, received a $50,000 investment from the Center for Innovative Technology’s (CIT) Growth Acceleration Program (GAP) Fund. The investment will facilitate intellectual property filings, product research and development and sales and marketing efforts.
“GCS is extremely pleased to have been recognized as a high potential, early-stage company in the Commonwealth,” said Uday Gupta, president and director of sales and marketing.
GCS, a member of VaBIO, started as a biotechnology project within the Medical Automation Research Center at the University of Virginia. GCS products are integral to the next generation of scientific breakthroughs in medicine, research, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. By using GCS’ products, researchers and biomanufacturers will be able to make significant advancements in the life science segments of drug discovery, biomanufacturing, regenerative medicine and clinical diagnostics.
CIT’s GAP Fund closes the funding gap between “friends and family” and early-stage equity investment for Virginia-based technology companies. CIT’s GAP Fund identifies and makes funds available to seed-stage technology firms with a high potential for commercialization, rapid growth and downstream private-equity financing. A number of GAP fund portfolio companies originate from research done in Virginia’s federal labs and universities.
To date, CIT’s $1.3 million of GAP Fund investments have leveraged an additional $7.2 million in private-equity financing.
