PlaqueTec secures £3.7m seed to expand intracoronary proteomic BioCarta for drug development
This article covers PlaqueTec, a biotech startup that has raised £3.7m in a seed funding round from its existing investors to expand BioCarta, its intracoronary proteomic data lake. The funding will finance further collection and analysis of intracoronary proteomic and clinical data to support researchers and drug developers working on cardiovascular diagnostics and therapeutics.
PlaqueTec, a biotech startup developing an intracoronary liquid biopsy device, has raised £3.7 million in a seed funding round from its existing investor base to expand BioCarta, its proprietary cardiovascular data lake. The financing, which was oversubscribed and funded entirely by current shareholders, will finance further collection and analysis of intracoronary proteomic and clinical data intended to support drug development and diagnostic research.
Why it matters
PlaqueTec’s approach captures proteomic biomarkers directly at the site of plaque formation rather than from systemic blood samples. That site-of-disease data is harder to obtain and could change how researchers assess inflammatory risk in coronary artery disease, stratify patients and prioritise therapeutic targets. For drug developers, access to high-resolution intracoronary data could shorten target validation cycles and support more targeted clinical trials.
Inside the product
BioCarta is being built as a repository of intracoronary proteomic and clinical data derived from the company’s liquid biopsy device. The platform incorporates samples collected through the BIOPATTERN trial, which is generating proteomic profiles across an expanding patient cohort.
According to PlaqueTec, several potential therapeutic targets have already been identified in subgroups that represent a majority of the studied coronary artery disease population. The company sees BioCarta as a platform asset for partnerships and licensing with pharmaceutical and biotech companies involved in cardiovascular drug development, enabling data-driven selection of targets and patient subgroups.
The technology’s key claim is that collecting proteins at the site of plaque formation yields information not available from conventional systemic sampling. That proposition will need to be validated through peer-reviewed data and regulatory pathways before it can affect clinical practice or commercial drug development programmes.
Who are the investors?
The round was funded entirely by PlaqueTec’s existing investors and was oversubscribed, though the company has not named individual backers. PlaqueTec says the reinvestment exceeded its target, signalling renewed confidence from its shareholder base.
The decision to rely on existing capital rather than bring in new institutional names leaves future fundraising and strategic introductions as open questions, but also preserves continuity for the company as it focuses on data collection and early partner discussions with pharmaceutical and biotech groups.
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Founder perspective
Martin Stapleton, Executive Chairman at PlaqueTec, said:
The decision by our existing shareholders to reinvest, and to do so at a level that exceeded our target, speaks directly to their confidence in what PlaqueTec's data is revealing about cardiovascular disease. We are building something genuinely differentiated: a high-resolution, intracoronary data asset that is poised to underpin the next generation of cardiovascular therapeutics. This round validates that strategy and gives us the runway to prove it.
The quote frames the funding as a vote of confidence in the company’s data-led strategy and gives PlaqueTec runway to expand BioCarta and continue the BIOPATTERN trial.
The bigger picture
PlaqueTec’s raise sits at the intersection of diagnostics, data and drug development. Across Europe, investors and pharma are increasingly interested in assets that de-risk target selection and patient stratification. Data lakes that link molecular signatures to clinical outcomes can be valuable licensing assets, but their worth depends on scale, quality and independent validation.
For PlaqueTec, the immediate priorities will be expanding the BIOPATTERN cohort, demonstrating that intracoronary proteomics provides actionable insights beyond standard sampling, and converting those insights into collaborations with drug developers.
The deal underlines ongoing appetite for clinical data plays within the biotech community and highlights how UK and European startups are pursuing data-first strategies to attract partnerships and follow-on capital.
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