Developing breakthrough technology to improve cell measurement in life sciences
Founder – Justin Hodgkiss.
Seed investing is about recognising potential before it becomes consensus. We led the company's $2.4m first close with a $1.5 million investment through Emerge Fund 4, investing alongside others at the earliest stage of their journey.
The story of Advemto
Advemto, a DeepTech spin-out from Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington and the MacDiarmid Institute. Founded by Professor Justin Hodgkiss (CEO & Chief Scientist) and Dr. Kai Chen (Co-Inventor/Principal Investigator).
Justin is a leading expert in transient grating spectrometry, who holds a PhD from MIT in time-resolved laser spectroscopy.
The solution
Advemto has identified a novel, previously unseen approach to flow cytometry — an analytical instrument widely used in drug discovery and development, biomedical research, and clinical diagnostics. The technology demonstrated the potential to significantly improve the measurement of fluorescent markers used across life sciences.
The investment case
Market feedback gathered through due diligence expert calls indicated that Advemto’s approach could be genuinely transformative, with the potential to emerge as a new measurement standard within the spectral flow cytometry market.
The investment was directed toward advancing development of the flow cytometer prototype, securing intellectual property, and producing white papers in collaboration with key opinion leaders to demonstrate and validate the technique for the wider industry.
Final thoughts
We’re pleased to have Movac Operating Partner Rob Shaddock join Advemto’s Board as Investor Director. Rob will work closely with Justin and the team as they execute on key technical milestones and progress towards commercialisation of the technology.
More broadly, it felt meaningful to support a brilliant thought leader and company with the potential to reshape how science is done at a fundamental level, to accelerate discovery itself, ultimately enabling better diagnostics for patients, practitioners and the world.
Written by:
David Beard, Partner