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From healthcare to food production, seven biotech start-ups have joined a government-backed business incubator to bring innovations to market and improve lives.

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The DeepTech Catalyst Biotech Incubator (DTC Bio) is a collaboration between the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

Shaping a better tomorrow

Addressing a range of real-world challenges, the latest businesses to join the DTC Bio are:

• Oshun Labs: developing functional products derived from seaweed to support women during and after menopause, helping reduce long-term health risks such as heart disease
• GutSee Health: using AI and virus-based therapies to remove harmful bacteria, offering more targeted treatments for infected wounds and gut infections
• The Good Pulse Company: helping cheese manufacturers make healthier, better-tasting, more nutritious and more sustainable plant-based cheese, with no additives and lower production costs
• Avigen: working with drug developers to help predict which cancer immunotherapy treatments are most likely to be effective
• Grouse Fibres: turning surplus milk waste into fibres that help soil retain water, supporting plant growth and creating more sustainable materials
• RevoNA Bio: developing new ways to protect plants and animals from disease, reducing the need for traditional chemical treatments
• Demeter Bio: creating alternatives to so-called ‘forever chemicals’, using natural waste to make water-resistant and durable materials

Improving lives, creating jobs

Science Minister, Lord Vallance yesterday said:

British science is among the best in the world. Turning our research strength into businesses that bring innovation to market, we can ensure our science sector continues to lead the field while also improving lives and creating new jobs.

From supporting women through menopause to making farming more sustainable, these innovations use our homegrown scientific talent to tackle real problems and unlock benefits for communities across the country.

Vital business support

Each company at the biotech incubator can receive support worth up to £90,000, including:

• research funding
• access to specialist facilities
• expert technical advice
• business mentoring

The Biotech Incubator is part of a wider network of business incubation programmes managed by STFC, known as the DeepTech Catalyst.

It is one of the UK’s most successful networks of business incubation programmes, recognised across Europe.

Successful track record

Since 2011, the DeepTech Catalyst has supported more than 230 UK start-ups across a range of specialist sectors, including space, quantum and health.

To date, these businesses have collectively:

• raised more than £300 million in private investment
• created around 1,100 high-skilled jobs
• achieved a 95% survival rate
• generated an estimated £25 in economic return for every £1 invested

Improving lives

Paul Vernon, Executive Director of Business and Innovation at STFC, yesterday said:

The UK is a world leader in scientific discovery, but impact comes when that science improves everyday life.

These start-ups are using biotechnology to tackle problems that matter to all of us, from health to sustainability. However, turning a promising idea into a successful business is full of challenges, which is why support for start-ups is so important.

Through the Biotech Incubator and STFC’s DeepTech Catalyst, we are providing the research and development (R&D) facilities, expertise and connections start-ups need to overcome barriers and turn innovation into real-world impact.

A UK-wide presence

Businesses joining the incubator can now be located across STFC and BBSRC locations across the UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The seven latest new businesses will be located at BBSRC’s Rothamsted Campus in Hertfordshire and Aber Innovation in Aberystwyth, as well as STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory, at Sci-Tech Daresbury in the Liverpool City Region.

De-risking the route to market

Dr Karen Lewis, BBSRC’s Executive Director, Capability and Innovation, yesterday said:

BBSRC is pleased to welcome these seven pioneering biotech startups into the DeepTech Catalyst Biotech Incubator.

Early-stage bioscience innovators play an important role in driving the UK’s future bioeconomy, and programmes like DTC Bio offer the environment, expertise and support needed to succeed.

By providing targeted R&D funding, access to world-class facilities across UKRI campuses, and specialist technical, commercial and IP guidance, we aim to help founders de-risk their technologies and accelerate their route to market.

We look forward to seeing these companies push the boundaries of bioscience innovation and translate cutting-edge research into real-world impact.

Read more about the STFC DeepTech Catalyst and its programmes.

Further information

More about the new businesses to join the DeepTech Bio.

Grouse Fibres

Grouse Fibre turns waste milk proteins into technical fibres for a range of technical applications.

They extract casein from surplus dairy streams and process it into strong, water-retentive fibres with unique properties.

Grouse Fibre’s first mission is to prove that these protein fibres can add value in horticulture as an additive for growing media.

From there they build a protein material platform that will have use cases across industries.

Oshun Labs

Oshun Labs is tackling a major gap in women’s health: the lack of effective, natural and nonhormonal solutions to support health for women in mid and later life.

Declining oestrogen during menopause increases risk of cardiovascular disease (the UK’s leading cause of premature female death) also impacts immune, gut, cognitive, bone and joint health.

Their innovation is a seaweed-based product developed for use as both a functional ingredient and a functional beverage.

Avigen Ltd

Avigen is a contract research organisation developing a microfluidics-based technology that measures avidity, the overall binding strength between living immune and tumour cells, a key determinant of therapeutic efficacy.

By assessing this biological process, Avigen’s platform addresses the challenge of quantifying immune–target interactions in a physiologically relevant, scalable, and workflow-compatible way.

Because cell-to-cell binding underpins all immune-cell-based therapies, the platform is therapy and indication-agnostic and offers broad application across cancer immunotherapy.

Gutsee Health Ltd

GutSee Health is developing breakthrough precision medicine therapies to address major unmet needs in infectious and inflammatory diseases.

Their initial focus is on battlefield-related wound infections and diarrhoea, with expansion into gut disorders such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Using advanced AI modelling and their proprietary Phage-X algorithm, they map microbiome dynamics, identify pathogenic targets, and develop bacteriophage therapies that selectively remove harmful bacteria, delivering safer, more effective, and durable treatments.

Demeter Bio Ltd

Demeter Bio creates bio-based alternatives, MelioShield and AguaShield, derived from renewable sources found in nature.

These are designed to replace harmful PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) chemicals used for water resistance and durability in products like cosmetics, packaging, and coatings.

In simple terms, they turn waste into an eco-friendly material that helps industries stay compliant and sustainable.

RevoNa Bio Ltd

RevoNA Bio is an innovative UK biotechnology company developing new ways to fight plant and animal diseases and improve health by targeting Ribonucleic Acid (RNA).

By enabling the discovery of small-molecule compounds that interact directly with RNA, RevoNA opens up alternative approaches beyond those available today.

The Good Pulse Company

The Good Pulse Company offers cheese producers protein-rich pre-mixes made from European-grown pulses and selected natural ingredients, and a process powered by fermentation to make plant-based cheeses.

Their solution:

• removes the need of chemically modified starches
• improves the nutritional, melting and sensory profile of plant-based cheeses
• extends their shelf-life without additives reducing ingredients list on the label, and subsequently their production costs