SpectaCell launches with €6M to make single-cell analysis fast enough for immunotherapy R&D

SpectaCell (Ghent, Belgium) has raised €6 million in a launch/Seed round led by imec.xpand, with PMV (via the Flanders Future Tech Fund), InnovationQuarter Capital, Qbic, and VIB participating. The company is the first spin-off from the collaboration between imec, VIB, and Ghent University Hospital — three Flemish research institutions whose combined expertise covers semiconductor chip design, cell biology, and clinical validation. Founders are Tony Montoye (CEO), Mathieu Rabaey, Veronique De Vroey, and Jan Van de Velde.

The measurement bottleneck in immunotherapy

Immunotherapy drug development requires measuring how specific immune cells — T cells, natural killer cells, macrophages — respond to candidate drugs. That measurement is a quality and speed problem: current platforms require fluorescent labelling to identify and measure individual cell properties, a multi-step preparation process that takes time, can disturb the cells it is measuring, and limits the number of simultaneous parameters.

SpectaCell's platform uses microchip technology from imec to perform label-free single-cell analysis — measuring cell properties directly, without chemical modification, faster than conventional platforms, and across more parameters in parallel. The claim is that this translates into faster and more information-rich data at the critical decision points of early drug development: before a biopharma company commits to a clinical programme, the platform can provide the mechanistic data that justifies or rules out that commitment.

The institutional origin and what it signals

The imec–VIB–Ghent University Hospital collaboration is the structural backbone. imec brings the chip expertise — its semiconductor engineering creates the measurement surfaces that allow label-free analysis at the required speed and precision. VIB provides the biological and immunological knowledge that translates physical measurements into biological meaning. Ghent University Hospital connects the platform to clinical validation pathways from the outset.

imec.xpand, imec's deep-tech venture fund, leads — a natural first institutional step for a spin-off from its parent institution. InnovationQuarter Capital's participation alongside planned validation activities in Leiden indicates the Leiden–Amsterdam pharmaceutical cluster is in SpectaCell's near-term commercial geography.

The €6M scope

At €6 million, this is a commercialisation-phase round rather than a full-scale platform build. The funded work centres on advancing platform development with pharma and biotech partners, and on the Leiden validation programme that gives the company its first external, non-academic reference. The 18-month test: whether label-free speed and parameter depth hold in live pharmaceutical R&D workflows, where the data has to integrate with existing laboratory information systems and meet regulatory documentation standards that academic pilots do not require.