Wellington Financial portfolio co. Insception Biosciences joins with Australia's Cell Care to Establish Global Platform

Insception Lifebank, Canada’s largest private cord blood & tissue bank, has announced that it has joined with Cell Care, Australia’s largest cord blood bank.  Mississauga-based Insception approached our team in 2012 to raise capital to fund the acquisition of TSXV-listed Lifebank Corp. Lifebank was founded in 1996 and headquartered in Burnaby, BC.  It provided processing and cryogenic storage of umbilical cord blood stem cells for families in Canada and the United States; the attraction for Insception was that Lifebank had a great history, as Canada’s first family cord blood bank, and was the market leader in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan at the time.  A perfect fit.

At the time, Insception Biosciences was a stem cell services company providing umbilical cord blood collection, processing, cryo-preservation storage and stem cell expansion technology.  Insception processed the umbilical cord blood of newborns in its state-of-the-art laboratory and preserved the stem cells in liquid nitrogen in a highly secure and monitored facility in Mississauga.  Insception was the successor entity to the Toronto Cord Blood Program, established in 1996 at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital.

In 2004, the Program was sold to venture capital funds managed by Genesys Capital Partners. Following a recapitalization of the business in November 2010, Insception became majority-owned by The Succession Fund and the current management team, with Mount Sinai Hospital remaining as a shareholder as well.

By joining forces with Cell Care, the combined entity creates one of the world’s top 10 companies in the sector. Together, they store over 100,000 client samples.

On the news of the merger, Dr Robert Casper, MD, FRCSC, Insception Founder & Medical Director commented:

“Insception is enthusiastic about the growth that bringing Cell Care’s R&D and clinical trial experience to Canada will contribute to its business. Insception has a strong quality reputation and excellent collaboration agreements with key Canadian health care institutions who will embrace an expanded R&D agenda.” Insception Lifebank and Cell Care will continue to provide health care professional and consumer education locally, and will always undertake local collection, processing and cryogenic storage of cord blood and tissue in their current respective world-class laboratory facilities.

Cord blood is the blood that remains in a baby’s umbilical cord and placenta after the baby has been born.  It is a rich source of particular stem cells which can be used for transplants in place of bone marrow to treat certain cancers.  Cord blood is also being actively researched in the area of regenerative medicine with trials underway for conditions such as CP and Type 1 diabetes.  Parents can store their baby’s cord blood and tissue for up to 25 years.

Congratulations to Insception CEO Richard Lockie, Succession Fund’s Larry Klar, and the rest of the management team and shareholder group.

This transaction was a perfect example of the role that Wellington’s True Growth Capital can play.  Speed, flexibility, a trusted partner with de minimis dilution.

MRM