Stellenbosch University (SU) spinout, FluoroBiotech won the Research and Development (R&D) Category Award at the recent Western Cape Economy Innovation Awards, held at Cape Town City Hall.

Co-hosted by the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Cape Higher Education Consortium, the event brought together leaders from across government, academia, industry, and civil society. Often referred to as the province’s “Innovation Oscars,” this year’s awards recognised 13 outstanding organisations across six economic categories.

The rapid nature and high mortality rate of COVID-19 placed a lot of pressure on scientists to develop effective diagnostics and therapeutics to control the pandemic. Looking at how the pandemic had disrupted supply chain in the biotech space, Dr Anton Du Preez van Staden and Ross Vermeulen saw the need for self-sufficiency in the biotech field and used their scientific knowledge and expertise with a drive to create commercial value that can address the challenges faced by the biotech industry in South Africa.

Together, they founded FluoroBiotech which has a protein production platform that uses cutting-edge technology that optimises efficiency, reduces costs, and increases speed. The approach helps produce high-quality proteins with a faster turnaround time, offering customers substantial value. Their technology powers scalable, affordable, and high-yield enzyme manufacturing, supporting vaccine developers, researchers, and biopharma innovators across the globe.

Like any business venture, FluoroBiotech has had common challenges faced by startups. Among others, these challenges include securing funding and obtaining operational space. However, FluoroBiotech now has a commercial lab space to operate from within LaunchLab CERIBIO and recently raised a Seed Investment from Toronto-based Third Way Capital (who also has offices in Accra and Cape Town). Both of these were made possible by SU LaunchLab. In addition, the company was internationally recognised in 2025 for quality management systems specific to medical devices and related manufacturing, encompassing stringent requirements for process control, documentation, traceability, and regulatory compliance.

“We have brilliant inventors at SU and at SU LaunchLab, we help these brilliant people take their inventions forward and create commercially successful ventures. Seeing FluoroBiotech successfully land customers overseas and raise investment capital is why we exist. It is great to also see our local ecosystem recognising the quality of these founders and the team that they lead,” said Brandon Paschal, Head of SU LaunchLab and Deputy Director for Spinouts and Funds at SU.

The company visited Berlin for a bio:cap Conference which is a life science and artificial intelligence investival in June 2026. FluoroBiotech presented its vision for strengthening global biomanufacturing through accessible, locally manufactured recombinant proteins and enzymes.