This funding round, which focuses on drug development services, includes contributions from existing investors, notably Gresham House Ventures.

Metrion excels in offering specialised services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies, particularly in the development of therapeutics targeting ion-channels, crucial protein structures in the body. The company plays a pivotal role in assisting its clients to understand how their drug candidates affect these ion-channels, addressing a range of conditions from pain and epilepsy to cystic fibrosis and auto-immune disorders. Metrion also conducts safety evaluations to detect any potential drug side effects caused by unintended ion channel interactions.

The Maven VCTs have contributed £2.5 million to this round, with additional investments from existing stakeholders, including £1 million from Gresham House Ventures, along with contributions from o2h Ventures and management. Metrion's impressive revenue growth over recent years has been driven by the increasing demand for quality ion channel R&D services from the pharma and biotech sectors.

This funding is aimed at expanding Metrion's UK laboratories, acquiring more automated electrophysiology equipment, developing new assay services, and enhancing international marketing and business development efforts.

David Milroy, Partner at Maven, remarked: “The Metrion team are highly regarded in the drug discovery industry and are ideally placed to capitalise on an increasing understanding of ion channel biology and the resulting heightened interest in therapeutics targeting these channels. Maven has a strong track record of backing life science businesses such as BioAscent, another CRO, which has performed very strongly since the Maven VCTs invested in 2018. I am very much looking forward to working with Andy and his team and to drawing on Maven’s experience with similar life science businesses and many other SMEs to help scale this exciting business.”

Maya Ward, Investment Director at Gresham House Ventures, commented: “As the timelines, cost and complexity of taking a drug to market continue to rise, we see increasing demand for expert, specialist providers such as Metrion to assist the biopharma industry in navigating these challenges. The management team's deep insight into ion channels and specialist electrophysiology equipment ensures Metrion is well placed to take advantage of the sizeable market opportunity. We look forward to supporting the business in its next phase of growth.”

Andy Southan, CEO at Metrion Biosciences, added: “We welcome Maven as a new investor in Metrion and thank Gresham House for their continued support. Maven has a successful track record of supporting the growth of revenue generating health technology businesses and I look forward to David’s contribution as a Metrion board director as we scale our company into a leading specialist pharmaceutical CRO.”