BioOrbit, a biotech company developing in-space manufacturing of cancer therapies, has closed a £9.8 million ($13.2 million) seed round, which the company describes as the largest seed round in the history of in-space manufacturing. The round was co-led by LocalGlobe and BREEGA, with support from Seedcamp, Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, Type One Ventures, 7percent Ventures, and others. BioOrbit was founded by Cambridge scientist Katie King and oncology researcher Dr. Leonor Teles, and is building a manufacturing process that removes gravity from the equation entirely — conducting drug production in orbit to achieve formulation qualities impossible on Earth.
The company’s core insight is that the physical properties of microgravity enable the production of ultra-high-concentration antibody formulations that can be made injectable and administered at home, rather than requiring patients to receive treatment in a clinical setting. BioOrbit is targeting the £1 trillion global antibody market, where it says its approach could reduce hospital drug administration costs by 90% by enabling a shift from cold, clinical infusion environments to home-based injectable therapies. The company describes this not as a space technology story but as a drug manufacturing breakthrough that happens to require orbit to achieve.
BioOrbit’s founders argue that by removing gravity, they can turn complex cancer therapies into fluid formulations with properties that current terrestrial manufacturing cannot replicate. The implications, the company says, extend well beyond cost savings — they represent a fundamental shift in how cancer patients access and experience treatment, moving care from the sterility of a clinical ward to the comfort and familiarity of the home. The company’s pitch has attracted a global coalition of investors who see its approach as a step change in the way biopharmaceutical manufacturing can evolve.
BioOrbit’s seed round brings together investors with backgrounds across deep tech, life sciences, and consumer health, reflecting the cross-disciplinary nature of a company that sits at the intersection of space technology and oncology. The round also includes participation from funds with a specific focus on supporting female-led deep tech ventures, consistent with BioOrbit’s founders’ identity as a female-led team tackling one of the most technically and commercially ambitious problems in the biotech industry. BioOrbit described the close as a global vote of confidence in a new industrial era.
KEY QUOTE:
“This round represents a global trust in a new industrial era. It is the moment a female-led deep-tech powerhouse proved that the most difficult problems on our planet are best solved 400km above it.”
BioOrbit statement
