Luxembourg’s space BioTech Exobiosphere secures €1 million to find “cures from space”

Luxembourg's space BioTech startup, Exobiosphere, has secured €1 million in funding to advance its drug discovery and biomedical research in microgravity. The grant, administered by Luxembourg’s Jeune Entreprise Innovante (JEI) aid scheme and managed by the Ministry of Economy, will support the company’s commercial growth, operations, and scaling of its orbital high-throughput screening platform.

Exobiosphere's CEO, Kyle Acierno, expressed gratitude for the timely support, stating that it will enable the company to expand its commercial activities, enhance its team, and offer its technology to more pharmaceutical and biotech partners worldwide. Founded in 2024, Exobiosphere is developing a standardized space-based high-throughput testing platform, the Orbital High-Throughput Screening (OHTS) system, capable of running over 2,000 automated experiments per mission with real-time Earth-based control.

The platform enables cell feeding, toxin and drug dispensing, sample processing, and plate-reader and microscopy-based readouts to study complex 3D disease modelling, stem cell differentiation, and compound potency testing. Microgravity is claimed to accelerate biological processes, enabling observation of disease mechanisms and drug responses that are slower on Earth.

The JEI grant, which pairs non-dilutive public funding with private investment, will cover up to 70% of the company’s estimated financing needs over three years, capped at €1 million. Exobiosphere plans to apply the capital to accelerate commercial expansion, strengthen operations, and grow international business development and marketing.

The company is exploring therapeutic areas such as oncology, ageing, neurodegeneration, radiation response, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease.