Microbiotica's $45M Boost: A New Era for Gut Health?

Jan de Vries · 2026-10-16

Microbiotica, a British biopharma company, just raised a hefty $45 million in Series C funding. That's a big deal for anyone following the gut health space. The company is developing precision microbiome medicines, and this cash injection will push their lead drug, MB310, into Phase 2 trials for ulcerative colitis. ### The Funding Round The round was led by the British Business Bank, with participation from Tencent, IP Group, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Flerie Invest, and Seventure Partners. All existing Series B investors joined in, which says a lot about their confidence in Microbiotica's approach. Tim Sharpington, the CEO, is clearly thrilled. He said the financing "marks an important next stage" and reflects the progress they've made in turning their genomics-driven platform into clinical-stage products. They've also developed a scalable manufacturing process, which is crucial for bringing these treatments to market. ### What This Means for Patients MB310 is designed to treat ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease that affects millions worldwide. In Phase 1b trials, it produced statistically significant clinical remission with no safety issues. That's promising, to say the least. Carmine Circelli from the British Business Bank called it "best in disease potential" and believes MB310 could be a major breakthrough if Phase 2 confirms the early results. ### A Wave of Biotech Investment Microbiotica's news comes amid a flurry of European biotech investments in 2026. Germany's mbiomics added $13 million to its Series A, bringing it to $32 million. The UK's OutPost Bio raised $3.1 million. France's Bionyra Pharma secured a whopping $154 million for inflammatory disease treatments, and Paris-based Generare raised $21.5 million for microbial-genome drug discovery. London's Alchemab Therapeutics also got $31.5 million from the British Business Bank. Add it all up, and you're looking at over $223 million in new financing, or $268 million including Microbiotica's round. Clearly, investors see huge potential in this space. ### How Microbiotica's Platform Works Founded in 2016 as a spin-out from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Microbiotica has built a powerful genomics-driven microbiome platform. It combines a diverse culture collection, a proprietary human Reference Genome Database, advanced bioinformatics, and machine learning. When applied to clinical trial data, it can identify bacteria linked to positive outcomes in specific patient groups. They've already partnered with big names like MSD, Cancer Research UK, Genentech, and the University of Adelaide. Dr. Sam Williams from IP Group noted the impressive progress since their first investment, saying the platform has generated "promising efficacy in two Phase 1b clinical trials." > "This funding allows the Company to move MB310 forward into a Phase 2 trial which, if it confirms the promise seen in Phase 1b, has the potential to be a major breakthrough in the treatment of ulcerative colitis." – Carmine Circelli, British Business Bank So what's next? Microbiotica will use the funds to advance MB310 and continue developing their pipeline. If all goes well, we might be looking at a new standard of care for inflammatory bowel disease. And that's something to get excited about.