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Based in Dundee, Scotland, Biomage is an open-source software company that developed Cellenics, a cloud-based platform designed for single-cell RNA sequencing data analysis. The technology enabled researchers without specialized bioinformatics expertise to intuitively explore complex datasets, effectively reducing standard analysis times from six months to just two weeks. Prior to its corporate exit, the enterprise operated with approximately ten employees, secured $1.4 million in venture capital funding, and generated over $500,000 in revenue. The platform scaled to support nearly 4,000 global researchers and maintained around 200 daily active users, providing critical infrastructure to top-tier academic clients including Harvard Medical School. In January 2024, the company was acquired by Parse Biosciences, which subsequently integrated the existing staff and rebranded the core software instance as Trailmaker. Biomage was founded in 2019 by Adam Kurkiewicz and Iva Babukova.
Biomage has raised $1.1M across 2 funding rounds.
Biomage has raised $1.1M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Biomage has raised $1.1M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $850K Seed in December 2020.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 1, 2020 | $850K Seed | — | Babel Ventures, ExSight Capital Management, Mayfield, Outsized Ventures, Social Starts, SOSV, Techstart Ventures, Calum Forsyth | Announced |
| May 1, 2020 | $200K Seed | — | Babel Ventures, ExSight Capital Management, Mayfield, Outsized Ventures, Social Starts, SOSV, Techstart Ventures, Calum Forsyth | Announced |
Biomage has raised $1.1M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Biomage's investors include Babel Ventures, ExSight Capital Management, Mayfield, Outsized Ventures, Social Starts, SOSV, Techstart Ventures, Calum Forsyth.
Biomage is a computational biology company specializing in bioinformatics software for single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data analysis. Its core product, Cellenics, is a cloud-based platform that automates end-to-end analysis, transforming raw count matrices into publication-ready figures without requiring coding or bioinformatics expertise, serving biotech, pharmaceutical companies, and academic researchers in fields like oncology, immunology, and developmental biology.[1][2][3][6] By addressing analysis bottlenecks—reducing processing time from months to hours—Biomage democratized access to complex single-cell insights, enabling biologists to independently explore cellular data for drug target discovery and biological research.[3][5][6] Founded in 2019, it raised $850K before being acquired by Parse Biosciences in January 2024, with its platform rebranded as Trailmaker to integrate with Parse's scalable sequencing tech.[1][2]
Biomage was founded in 2019 in Edinburgh, UK, by Adam Kurkiewicz (CEO, bioinformatics researcher and software engineer focused on machine learning for cancer drug response prediction), Peter Kharchenko (scientific co-founder, Harvard-trained Professor of Bioinformatics now at Altos Labs), Iva Babukova, and Vicky Morrison.[1][3][4] The idea emerged from Kurkiewicz and co-founders' realization that wet-lab biologists struggled with scRNA-seq data demands, lacking accessible tools amid exploding data volumes; they pivoted from manual services to building software after early overload.[5] Key early traction included developing Cellenics for Harvard Medical School, securing over $0.5M in revenue from top institutions, $1.4M in VC (including IndieBio), and free academic access that built a global user community—culminating in the 2024 Parse Biosciences acquisition to pair analysis software with scalable wet-lab tech.[2][3][5]
Biomage rides the single-cell omics revolution, where scRNA-seq unlocks cellular heterogeneity for precision medicine, immunotherapy, and drug discovery amid booming biotech data (e.g., oncology, immunology).[1][2] Timing was ideal: post-2010s sequencing cost drops created analysis chokepoints, which Biomage solved by making tools biologist-friendly, bridging wet-lab and computational gaps in a market shifting toward scalable, AI-augmented platforms.[3][5] It influences the ecosystem by accelerating insights—free tools fostered academic adoption, while acquisition by Parse amplifies reach, combining cheap sequencing with fast analysis to lower barriers for pharmas/biotechs and spur innovations like spatial transcriptomics.[2][5]
Post-acquisition, Biomage's tech as Trailmaker will embed deeper into Parse's ecosystem, enabling faster, larger-scale single-cell studies and expanding to multi-omics like spatial data.[2][5] Trends like AI-driven analytics and combinatorial barcoding will propel growth, positioning it to dominate accessible scRNA-seq tools amid rising demand for efficient drug development pipelines. Its influence evolves from niche enabler to core infrastructure, humanizing complex data to fuel biotech breakthroughs—echoing its founding mission to empower every biologist in the quest for better health.[2][3]
