The investment comes from the Investment Fund for Scotland (IFS), managed by Maven Capital Partners, and the Scottish National Investment Bank.

The Maven team were first introduced to NCIMB at an IFS Roadshow in Aberdeen, hosted by the British Business Bank.

NCIMB provides microbial identification, testing and safe storage services and supplies bacterial stains from its globally recognised collection for commercial and academic use. The business services customers operating in a number of industries, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food & drink, energy, and environmental sectors, from its state-of-the-art laboratory facility in Aberdeen. Due diligence verified that customers highly rate NCIMB and new customers tend to approach the business on the back of a recommendation or as a result of its reputation.

Investment will be used to strengthen NCIMB’s business development and marketing functions to accelerate growth in its core microbiology and strain licensing services. Investment will also be used to broaden NCIMB’s service offering to include the selection and development of bacterial strains in its collection for specific customer applications.

David Milroy, partner at Maven, said: “NCIMB is globally recognised for its culture collection and for delivering high-quality microbiology services and is uniquely positioned to meet growing market demand for Contract Research Organisation’s (CRO) with deep domain expertise.

“This investment will allow the company to scale its commercial operations, expand its licensing business, and enhance its service offering to customers worldwide. We are delighted to join the team at this point in the company’s journey and look forward to helping them further scale the business.”

Edward Green, CEO at NCIMB, said: “I am delighted that NCIMB has secured this investment from Maven and the Bank. The funding is transformational for the business, allowing us to scale in the Northeast of Scotland and better support our customer’s needs in life sciences.

“In addition, it allows us to deliver our long-term vision to deploy our unique microbial platform to deliver impactful biotechnology solutions addressing grand societal challenges including decarbonisation, climate change, food security and healthy living.”

Alastair McMillen, associate director of sustainable investment at the Scottish National Investment Bank, said: “The cultures in NCIMB’s care and collection have the potential to help companies and researchers achieve greater efficiencies and improve sustainability across a range of global applications.

“Our investment will help the business scale and grow at an accelerated pace. As an impact investor, we are attracted to NCIMB’s commercial potential as well as the innovation it can unlock to address global challenges such as climate change and food insecurity.”

The Scottish National Investment Bank is Scotland’s development bank and exists to provide patient capital for businesses and projects that support the development of a fairer and more sustainable Scottish economy.

Sarah Newbould, senior investment manager at Nations & Regions Investment Funds, the British Business Bank, said: “NCIMB is a long-established Scottish business doing important work at the intersection of science and industry.

“The Investment Fund for Scotland is committed to supporting ambitious businesses to access the finance they need to drive progress in key sectors and deliver lasting economic and social value across the country.”

This marks the latest investment made by IFS Maven Equity Finance. Businesses previously backed by the fund include long established pet food company, Wilsons Pet Food, water treatment specialists, Scotmas Group and premium Indian ready meals business, Praveen Kumar. The £150m Investment Fund for Scotland covers the whole of Scotland and provides loans from £25,000 to £2m and equity investment up to £5m to help a range of small and medium sized businesses to start up, scale up or stay ahead.