Riga-based Cellbox Labs, developing miniature human organ replicas outside the body, has secured €3.3 million in non-dilutive funding to accelerate the development of its dynamic organ-on-a-chip technology.
Part of this funding comes from state aid under the Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) in the healthcare sector, known as “Tech4Cure”, which strengthens EU industrial resilience and reinforces the Single Market.
The company noted in a public statement: “Personalised gut-on-chip systems are key to accurately predicting individual responses to drugs, food, and probiotics, unlocking new value for the pharma, nutrition, and functional food industries.”
Founded in 2020 by Artūrs Ābols, Gatis Mozoļevskis, and Roberts Rimša, Cellbox Labs specialises in creating organ-on-chip systems; micro-engineered setups that separate endothelial and epithelial layers with a permeable membrane. This allows the modelling of organs such as the kidney, gut, lung, blood-brain barrier, and pancreas, using non-absorbing materials optimised for drug discovery.
The platform supports controlled gas conditions, is mass manufactured for reproducibility, and features an automated system that reduces manual work while enabling scalable throughput from 8 to 24 chips.
The funding will be channelled into four key initiatives.
- First, in collaboration with Altis Biosystems, Cellbox Labs will scale an automated, primary cell-based gut-on-chip model for pharmaceutical throughput, moving towards personalised models using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and patient-derived microbiota.
- Second, the company will integrate oxygen and pH sensors directly into every organ-on-chip assay, producing live data without additional hardware. This matches the industry shift towards richer datasets for AI-driven drug discovery.
- Third, the team will benchmark biosimilar performance by testing GLP-1 generics on pancreatic islet organ-on-chip systems under dynamic flow, comparing results with static cultures and animal models to improve the physiological relevance of biosimilar testing.
- Fourth, alongside ESQlabs and MPSlabs, Cellbox Labs will develop high-fidelity digital twin models of its in vitro systems, integrating them with physiologically based human models to enable in vitro–in vivo translation (IVIVE). This aims to strengthen the predictive power of organ-on-chip platforms for human outcomes.
This strategic roadmap aligns with regulatory developments such as the FDA’s plan to phase out animal testing requirements for certain drugs and the NIH’s mandate to include computer modelling, AI, and organ-on-chip technologies in funded research.
The startup had previously raised €935k in a 2024 pre-Seed round led by Latvian Buildit VC, with participation from LatBAN angels, ASP Asset Management AIFP, and private investor Ansis Spridzans.
With its latest capital injection, Cellbox Labs aims to accelerate its push for predictive, data-rich, and personalised drug testing platforms – without relying on animal trials.
