Helsinki-based CurifyLabs has secured €6.7 million in funding to revolutionize the manufacturing of compounded medications through automation and robotics. The round was led by Springvest, a Finnish growth funding initiative, and includes a €1 million deeptech loan from Business Finland. This latest funding brings the company's total raised to €17.6 million.
The healthtech company is addressing critical inefficiencies in pharmaceutical compounding, a process essential for vulnerable patient populations including children and cancer patients. Currently, 50% of medicines are not available in doses or formulations approved for children, while only 1% of drugs are personalized through compounding despite increasing demand.
Addressing Critical Manufacturing Challenges
The global market for compounded medications is valued at €15 billion and growing at 5.5% annually, influenced by population aging, chronic conditions, and supply chain challenges. Traditional compounding involves pharmacists manually measuring and mixing ingredients when standard drugs don't meet patient needs due to dosage requirements, allergies, or supply shortages.
"The current approach to manufacturing compounded medications is outdated and poorly optimized – failing both pharmacies and the patients they serve," said Charlotta Topelius, CEO and co-founder of CurifyLabs. "Even with highly trained pharmacists and modern equipment, the process remains unnecessarily labour-intensive, prone to human error, and inconsistent in quality."
Topelius emphasized the real-world consequences: "A 9-month-old baby with cancer, for example, cannot swallow standard tablets and requires a carefully customised formulation. It's time to work together and modernise how we deliver personalised medicine – because every patient deserves treatment that truly fits their needs."
Automated Manufacturing Solution
Working with pharmacists and building on years of research, CurifyLabs has developed the Compounding System Solution to automate compounded medicine production. The system makes the manufacturing process four times faster while enabling limitless dosing flexibility.
The solution combines carrier agents, active ingredients, hardware, software, and quality control to support the preparation of tailored medications. The process uses CurifyLabs' excipient bases mixed with active ingredients from raw materials or crushed tablets. The mixture is then dispensed into the required form, such as tablets or liquid, by a desktop compounding robot called the Pharma Printer.
A cloud-based formulation library provides step-by-step guidance for pharmacists, while built-in quality control tools help ensure consistent dosing and reduce manual errors. The integrated system ensures mass uniformity and removes the risk of human errors through validated compounding processes.
EU-Funded RoboPharma Initiative
Alongside the funding announcement, CurifyLabs launched RoboPharma, a €5.6 million project supported by the EU4Health programme. The initiative aims to create a decentralized pharmaceutical manufacturing system using AI and robotics to strengthen medicine production at the point of care and reduce reliance on centralized supply chains.
Led by CurifyLabs with six partners across Europe, the platform will be designed for use in hospitals and community pharmacies to help maintain access to medicines during crises such as pandemics, natural disasters, and global disruptions.
Market Expansion and Growth Strategy
The funding will be used to expand CurifyLabs' operations and attract high-volume customers. The company operates offices in Finland, the US, and Germany, with particular focus on the US market where the vast majority of compounding manufacturing occurs.
"We're seeing rapid growth of the global compounding market, which presents an exceptional opportunity for new solutions that have the potential to be ten times better than the existing ways to solve the same challenges," said Aki Soudunsaari, CEO of Springvest Plc. "CurifyLabs' entry into the US market positions CurifyLabs for substantial growth."
Topelius noted that the company has already started operations in the US and is aiming to grow quickly through securing high-volume customers. "Automated manufacturing of personalised medicine will provide better medication safety for patients and help pharmacies lower operating costs," she said. "We are going to see a major paradigm shift in the manufacturing of personalised medicine, driven by ageing populations, chronic diseases, supply chain disruptions, patient demand, and other factors."
