Sarcura is a company powering cell therapy mass customization through a miniaturized and autonomous manufacturing platform. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Sarcura co-founder and CEO Danila Buchmayr to learn more about the company.
Danila Buchmayr’s Background
What is Danila Buchmayr’s background? Buchmayr said:
“I served in management roles within the biopharmaceutical sector for over 15 years, specializing in supplying manufacturing equipment to the industry and spearheading strategic innovation projects in international corporations. Despite my achievements, I frequently encountered resistance to disruptive innovation from the conservative cultures of large corporations. This persistent frustration motivated me to establish Sarcura in 2019. My decision was driven by a desire to tackle the cell therapy industry’s challenges head-on, utilizing my extensive experience and a commitment to meaningful innovation.”
Formation Of Sarcura
How did the idea for Sarcura come together? Buchmayr shared:
“Witnessing the remarkable clinical success of early cell therapy trials, I was struck by the vastly different manufacturing requirements they presented compared to traditional biopharmaceutical processes. The shift from scaling up to scaling out and the use of patient-derived materials highlighted the need for innovative solutions to manufacture these therapies on an industrial scale. Through extensive technology screening and discussions with customers, it became evident that new technologies were essential to address these unique challenges effectively.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Buchmayr reflected:
“Seeing people from all corners of the world move to Austria just to work with us at Sarcura has been both humbling and inspiring. It’s clear that there’s a shared belief in what we’re doing here – tackling big challenges in cell therapy. This movement isn’t just about jobs; it’s about being part of something genuinely important and making a real difference with your work.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Buchmayr explained:
“We are powering cell therapy mass customization through a miniaturized, autonomous manufacturing platform, designed to increase production capacity by 100x while significantly reducing costs. By leveraging cutting-edge semiconductor technologies, such as silicon photonics, we develop miniaturized unit operation modules.”
“These modules not only facilitate the processing of cells but also integrate advanced process analytics and QC testing directly into the manufacturing system. By infusing control intelligence into the automation layer, we’re paving the way towards an autonomous manufacturing system with a tiny footprint—our ultimate vision.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Buchmayr and the team faced in building the company? Buchmayr acknowledged:
“Semiconductor chip development is a complex, time-consuming, and expensive endeavor. Deep tech/ hardware development often falls outside the preferred scope of venture capital firms, primarily due to the high costs, risks, and longer timelines compared to software development. Coupled with the current challenging financing climate, securing funding is always a hurdle, despite the evident market demand for disruptive technologies. This reality presents a constant challenge in our journey as well.”
“Sarcura’s team, along with our investors and industry supporters, embraces our vision, recognizing that disruptive technologies are not built in just three years. With a clear roadmap in hand, our seasoned leadership team is well prepared for the journey ahead. We methodically de-risk, ticking off milestones step by step, navigating through challenges, and forging partnerships with companies that share our mindset and vision. This collaborative and strategic approach ensures we stay on course towards achieving our ambitious goals.”
Evolution Of Sarcura’s Technology
How has Sarcura’s technology evolved since launching? Buchmayr noted:
“Since launching, Sarcura has been actively evolving, although we are still in the development phase of our inaugural product. Our technology is undergoing continuous refinement and enhancement as we progress towards finalizing our first commercial product.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Buchmayr cited:
“A significant milestone for Sarcura has been the development of compact fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) systems, showcasing a notable advancement in our technology. Our inaugural device, focusing on cell sorting, incorporates silicon chip prototypes that house 16 parallel FACS structures. Remarkably, these are designed to fit within a device the size of a large coin, presenting a dramatic downsizing from the conventional FACS systems, which usually require the footprint of a desktop unit.”
“Additionally, we’ve achieved a breakthrough with the demonstration of a CMOS-based flow cytometer chip that features integrated illumination and collection photonics. This innovation enables the precise differentiation of T cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), delivering performance on par with standard offline flow cytometers. This breakthrough marks a pivotal advancement in incorporating advanced analytical capabilities into miniaturized manufacturing devices.”
Funding
When asking Buchmayr about the company’s funding? Buchmayr cited:
“Sarcura successfully secured €8.7 million in funding from European venture capital firms and an additional €4.5 million through public grants.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Buchmayr assessed:
“The initial target for our developments, the global CAR-T market, is projected to reach $15 billion by 2027. Furthermore, other advanced cell therapies are anticipated to expand to a market size of $45 billion.”
“With the advanced cell therapy sector expanding into areas beyond cancer treatment, including autoimmune diseases and various other applications, we foresee significant growth potential beyond these estimates, indicating a robust and expanding total addressable market (TAM) for our company.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Buchmayr affirmed:
“Unlike the current industry trend that focuses on automating existing manual processes, Sarcura is envisioning a leap beyond mere automation to autonomous systems, which represents a more radical transformation in cell therapy manufacturing.”
“Autonomous systems, as Sarcura proposes, are capable of operating without human intervention, adjusting in real-time to the specificities of patient-derived material. This vision for autonomy in cell therapy processing is ambitious, emphasizing the integration of the quality control (QC) lab directly into the manufacturing process. In a partnership with imec, the world-leading semiconductor research center, we are developing advanced semiconductor chips using silicon photonics technology, which is key to miniaturizing optical measurements—widely used in established analytical technologies.”
“By doing so, Sarcura plans to not only enhance the manufacturing process but also enable the production of therapies at an unprecedented scale, tailored precisely to individual needs without compromising on speed or quality.”
