Rapid Micro Biosystems Inc. drummed up an $18.6 million round of venture financing to fund an expansion into new markets for its microbial contamination detection system and to develop new products.
The Bedford-based company might want to make its first stop in Allston, where Genzyme Corp. was forced to shut down its plant after it was contaminated by a virus last month.
Rapid Micro Biosystems makes the Growth Direct system, which uses digital imaging technology to detect possible contamination. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, TVM Capital, Quaker BioVentures and VIMAC Milestone Medica Fund all ponied up for the Series A round.
Growth Direct is the only testing solution that meets Food & Drug Administration requirements for microbial testing, Jens Eckstein, a general partner at TVM, told the Xconomy website.
“[The] technology is the only available solution that perfectly matches FDA regulations for microbial testing enabling non-destructive counting of microbial colonies. Or in other words manufacturing people do not have to introduce a new method into their processes but rather get a more sensitive and reliable technology,” Eckstein wrote in an email to the website.
Eckstein, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Thomas Monath and Quaker BioVentures partner Richard Kollender were all named to the Rapid Micro Biosystems board of directors.