Bico Group (previously Cellink) is a Swedish bioconvergence company that designs and supplies technologies and services to enhance biology research. It focuses on commercializing technologies for life science research as well as bioprinting. Bico Group (then Cellink) began by producing

bio-ink Bio-inks are materials used to produce engineered/artificial live tissue using 3D printing. These inks are mostly composed of the cells that are being used, but are often used in tandem with additional materials that envelope the cells. The combi ...

s and bioprinters for culturing different cell types to enable applications like patient-derived implants. Bico Group was the first company to provide a standardized bio-ink product for sale over the internet. The company has ongoing collaborations with organizations including

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () (AZ) is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, UK. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...

MedImmune MedImmune, LLC was a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca before February 14, 2019, when it was announced that the MedImmune name and branding would be discontinued in favor of AstraZeneca. MedImmune was founded in 1988 as Molecular Vaccines, ...

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

and Takara Bio, and its bioprinters are used for research at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, Merck,

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company, pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by re ...

, the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...

and more.

History

Foundation

Bico Group was founded as Cellink in 2016 by Erik Gatenholm, the company's chief executive, Héctor Martinez, the company's CTO and Gusten Danielsson, the company's CFO. They developed and sold the world's first universally compatible bio-ink to simplify bioprinting for academics and pharmaceutical companies who were, at that time, mixing their own biomaterial in-house. The company released its first bioprinter to test the market in 2015, and continued designing additional bio-inks to support more specialized applications in bioprinting. Ten months after it was founded, Cellink was listed publicly on the Nasdaq exchange First North. At its

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

, shares were oversubscribed by 1070 percent. The company's technology made it possible to print tissues such as skin, liver, cornea, and cartilage. This technology allowed printing of fully functional cancer tumors which could be used to develop new cancer treatment. In 2017, it established a United States headquarters in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. In January 2018, Cellink announced a collaboration with Ctibiotech to boost 3D bioprinting technology for cancer research. In 2018, Cellink received a $2.5 million grant from the EU to fund its TumorPrint project. By 2018, the company's revenue totaled $4.88. As of February 2019, its products were used by more than 600 labs in more than 50 countries.

Growth 2021 - Present

In August 2021, Cellink underwent a corporate transformation and changed its name to BICO, while keeping the Cellink name for their bioprinting business. Bico Group acquired German biotechnology company Cytena in August 2019 for a purchase price of $33.8 million. In 2020, Bico Group acquired Scienion, a precision dispensing company, for $94.8 million, along with its subsidiary Cellenion. Bico Group transitioned to a bioconvergence company in 2020, expanding its focus from

bioprinting Three dimensional (3D) bioprinting is the use of 3D printing–like techniques to combine cells, growth factors, bio-inks, and biomaterials to fabricate functional structures that were traditionally used for tissue engineering applications but ...

to broader

life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, ...

technology and industrial solutions. The company developed and marketed products that enable researchers to culture cells in 3D, perform high-throughput drug screening, and print human tissues and organs for use in medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. In May 2021, Bico Group acquired German 3D microfabrication company Nanoscribe for $70.6 million as well as the US-based contract research company Visikol for $7.5 million. In December 2021, Bico Group acquired the San Diego life-science automaton company ''Biosero'' for $165 million. In August 2023, co-founder Erik Gatenholm stepped down from his position as CEO with Maria Forss appointed as the new CEO.

Products

The bio-ink produced by the company contains

cellulose Cellulose is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of glycosidic bond, β(1→4) linked glucose, D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important s ...

and

alginate Alginic acid, also called algin, is a naturally occurring, edible polysaccharide found in brown algae. It is hydrophilic and forms a viscous gum when hydrated. When the alginic acid binds with sodium and calcium ions, the resulting salts are k ...

, locally sourced from trees in Sweden and seaweed from the Norwegian Sea, respectively. Cellink's bio-ink technology was developed at

Chalmers University Chalmers University of Technology (, commonly referred to as Chalmers) is a private research university located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Chalmers focuses on engineering and science, but more broadly it also conducts research and offers education ...

References

{{reflist 3D printer companies Companies based in Massachusetts Computer companies established in 2016 Manufacturing companies of the United States 2016 establishments in Massachusetts American companies established in 2016 Swedish companies established in 2016 Electronics companies established in 2016 Companies listed on Nasdaq Stockholm