Biotech Companies in Cardiff: 37 Active Firms (2026)
Biotech companies develop biology-led therapeutics, diagnostics and research tools for healthcare and industrial markets across Cardiff.
Buying centres tend to sit in R&D, translational medicine and business-development teams rather than general healthcare procurement. Cardiff-based biotech suppliers usually sell to pharmaceutical groups, specialist life-sciences service providers, academic research teams and public-sector health buyers, with engagement models shaped by evidence, intellectual property and regulatory risk. Early commercial work often starts as feasibility testing, assay development, outsourced experimental packages or grant-backed collaboration. Larger engagements tend to move through licensing, co-development, clinical-development support or research-tool supply, where the buyer is paying for scientific capability as much as a finished product.
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Cardiff’s active biotech cohort comprises 37 trading companies, making it a compact local market rather than a broad regional cluster. The combined reported workforce is 96 people, which points to a base of lean specialist teams rather than employers with large in-house manufacturing or clinical operations. That pattern fits a city-level life-sciences market where intellectual property, laboratory know-how and partner-led development matter more than headcount scale. For researchers, the list is likely to surface early commercial businesses, research-led suppliers and a small number of firms moving towards higher-revenue biopharmaceutical activity.
Medicines, diagnostics and related biotechnology activity sit inside the UK life-sciences regulatory framework. The MHRA is the central reference point for clinical trial applications, marketing authorisations or drug licences, and post-authorisation safety monitoring through pharmacovigilance. Human clinical work also has to satisfy Good Clinical Practice, ethics review and informed-consent requirements. Market access can be a separate hurdle after approval, particularly where products need health-technology assessment before routine public-sector adoption. The BioIndustry Association and ABPI remain relevant trade bodies for policy, investment conditions and representation across biotechnology and research-based pharmaceuticals.
Cardiff’s pipeline appears weighted towards small, specialist teams that rely on partnerships, grants and outsourced development rather than fully integrated discovery-to-commercialisation operations. That tends to make progress uneven: scientific assets can advance through collaboration, but scale-up depends on access to clinical, regulatory and commercial partners beyond the local market. Regulatory expectations are unlikely to ease, so firms with clearer evidence packages and buyer-specific use cases should be better placed than general research-service providers. Consolidation may come through licensing and asset-level deals as much as corporate acquisitions, especially where local teams hold defensible biology or research-tool capability.
What’s in the file
One row per company, 50+ columns — everything below plus each company’s verified directors, from Companies House filings.
Company data
Verified directors — included
37
Active firms
2026
11
Incorporated since 2022
1
Over £5M revenue
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Key facts
About 2% of the trading cohort reports turnover above £5M (1 of 37 firms) — the rest sits below that revenue band.
29% of the cohort was incorporated since 2022 (11 firms), so a sizeable share is in its first few filing cycles.
MHRA oversight covers clinical trial applications, marketing authorisations or drug licences, and pharmacovigilance for UK biopharmaceutical activity.
Clinical trials must follow Good Clinical Practice, ethics review and informed-consent requirements before patient recruitment.
The UK life-sciences industry generated £146.9 billion in turnover in 2023/2024 across 6,170 businesses and 7,320 companies.
Biopharmaceutical companies generated £98.9 billion in turnover in 2023/2024, equal to 67% of total life-sciences turnover.
BIA reported £3.5 billion of UK biotech equity investment in 2024, a 94% increase on the previous year, with financing concentrated in a small number of large rounds, mainly from US investors.
Top Cardiff Biotech companies
Financial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsDevelops RNA interference therapeutics using modified small interfering RNA (siRNA) to temporarily silence target genes. Researches bispecific and dual siRNA platforms and builds a pipeline of drug…
Targets strategic pharmaceutical partners and innovation-focused investors seeking RNA interference assets, particularly siRNA therapeutics for cardiometabolic and acute clinical indications, via…
Financial Health
StrongStrong · Hiring · 3% CAGR over 5y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsDevelops machine-learning models to design and optimise therapeutic antibodies against difficult drug targets, supporting antibody discovery and development for pharmaceutical and biotechnology…
Serves biotechnology and pharmaceutical organisations pursuing antibody therapeutics, including drug discovery, R&D and partnering teams working on challenging targets and unmet medical needs.
Financial Health
StrongStrong · Growing, Hiring · 26% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 4 filingsDevelops and supplies point‑of‑care molecular diagnostic systems for urinary tract infections, including the Lodestar DX analyser that detects common UTI pathogens in urine samples in about 35…
Sells to healthcare providers and veterinary practices needing point-of-care UTI diagnostics, including doctors and clinicians seeking rapid test results for treatment decisions.
Financial Health
StrongStrong · Hiring · 26% CAGR over 3y
Location
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Computed from 3 filingsDevelops and supplies endotoxin testing technology, including the αBET cartridge‑based testing system and consumables, and operates a contract laboratory providing endotoxin sample analysis, method…
Serves B2B laboratory customers, from start-up labs to high-volume pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, including R&D and QC teams needing endotoxin testing support.
Financial Health
WeakWeak · 0% CAGR over 2y
Location
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Computed from 4 filingsDevelops mobile imaging software for lateral flow diagnostic tests. Provides smartphone-based applications, SDKs and development tools that capture and analyse test results, supporting assay…
Sells to B2B diagnostic test providers and test manufacturers of any size, serving point-of-care and in-field lateral flow testing across medical, veterinary, industrial and environmental markets.
Financial Health
StableStable · -11% CAGR over 3y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
WeakWeak
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Computed from 5 filingsProvides contract immunology research services and laboratory testing, including immunoassay analysis, ELISpot/FluoroSpot, flow cytometry, ELISA, TCR sequencing and HLA typing. Also develops…
Serves B2B life sciences research teams working in immunology, immunotherapeutics, vaccine research and cancer immunotherapy, across pre-clinical and clinical programmes.
Financial Health
StableStable · -58% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsDevelops software platforms for managing cell and gene therapy supply chains. Provides systems that track patients, materials, manufacturing, and logistics across clinical trials and commercial…
Serves cell and gene therapy developers and other advanced therapy organisations, from clinical trial teams to commercial supply chain stakeholders, including healthcare providers, logistics…
Financial Health
StableStable · -68% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 3 filingsFinancial Health
StableStable
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
DistressedDistressed · -16% CAGR over 4y
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Computed from 5 filingsDevelops bioelectronic medical devices that use biomimetic analogue electronics to interpret physiological signals and generate therapeutic responses. Technology includes implantable systems that…
Targets healthcare providers, clinicians and healthcare systems involved in heart failure care, with potential relevance to teams treating hypertension, spinal cord injuries and endocrine disorders…
Financial Health
StrongStrong · Hiring · 33% CAGR over 3y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsDevelops bioelectronic medical devices that use neuromodulation to treat circulatory system diseases. Conducts research and development of non‑invasive, device‑based therapies for conditions such as…
Targets hypertensive patients and people with circulatory system diseases or other therapeutic needs poorly served by existing medication, with relevance to cardiovascular clinicians and healthcare…
Financial Health
DistressedDistressed
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Computed from 3 filingsFinancial Health
StableStable · -13% CAGR over 2y
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
StrongStrong · Growing · 0% CAGR over 4y
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
DistressedDistressed
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Computed from 2 filingsFinancial Health
DistressedDistressed
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
WeakWeak
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Computed from 5 filingsDevelops and supplies gas chromatography–ion mobility spectrometry (GC‑IMS) instruments and analytical solutions for detecting and characterising volatile compounds. Provides breath analysis…
Serves healthcare researchers, clinicians, healthcare administrators and health centres, plus industrial customers in food and beverage processing, environmental monitoring and wastewater/refining…
Financial Health
StableStable · -70% CAGR over 4y
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Develops and manufactures specialist enzymes for food, flavour, life science, pharmaceutical and industrial biotechnology applications. Provides custom enzyme development, fermentation and scale‑up…
Serves B2B customers in food, flavours, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, industrial biotechnology and fermentation, including manufacturers and R&D teams seeking specialist enzyme products or custom…
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
StableStable · -45% CAGR over 5y
Location
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Computed from 4 filingsFinancial Health
StrongStrong
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Computed from 5 filingsProvides sourcing and access to human biological samples for life science and medical research. Works with clinical centres to collect and supply patient‑derived biospecimens across various diseases,…
Serves life science and medical research organisations, including researchers running disease studies and research programmes that need access to human biological samples from UK clinical centres.
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HealthyHealthy · Growing · 0% CAGR over 4y
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Computed from 2 filingsManufactures microbiology consumables including transport and dry swabs, sampling kits, and pathogen identification systems for clinical, food, veterinary, pharmaceutical, and environmental testing,…
Sells B2B to laboratories and quality, hygiene and infection-control teams in medical, veterinary, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, environmental, education and forensic settings, plus users…
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HealthyHealthy
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Computed from 5 filingsManufactures microbiology consumables and sampling products including transport swabs, dry swabs, hygiene sampling kits, pathogen detection kits, microorganism preservation systems, and laboratory…
Serves clinical, veterinary, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, environmental, educational and forensic laboratories, plus infection control and quality assurance teams needing…
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StrongStrong · Growing · 0% CAGR over 4y
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
HealthyHealthy · Hiring · 19% CAGR over 4y
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N/AN/A
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Computed from 5 filingsSupplies allograft human tissue and surgical products for orthopaedic, dental and reconstructive procedures. Distributes bone, tendon, cartilage, dermal and other graft materials, and provides…
Serves UK healthcare providers, including hospitals, surgeons and specialist clinicians in orthopaedic, corrective, dental, maxillofacial, sports medicine and reconstructive surgery.
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StableStable · -62% CAGR over 4y
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
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Computed from 2 filingsFinancial Health
StrongStrong · Hiring · 50% CAGR over 1y
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Develops and manufactures bio‑based environmental biotechnology products for cleaning and hygiene, disinfection, odour control, grease management and wastewater treatment. Also supplies agricultural…
Serves facilities management and retail operators, schools, public-sector bodies, healthcare providers, hospitality and catering businesses, agricultural customers, and own-label commercial partners.
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How Cardiff Biotech companies work and how to sell to them
What they do
Cardiff biotech firms usually earn revenue long before a therapy, diagnostic or research platform is fully commercialised. Income tends to come from paid research packages, assay development, access to specialised laboratory capability, grant-funded collaborations, and IP options that may later become licence or milestone agreements. Pricing is often scoped around work packages, experiments, materials and senior scientific time rather than user seats or pure subscriptions. Research-tool businesses can look more like product suppliers, with consumables, instruments or service bundles, while therapeutics and diagnostics companies tend to sell evidence, rights and development progress. Margin depends on how much lab work is kept in-house versus outsourced.
Who they sell to
Most sell into specialist buying groups rather than broad procurement departments. Typical customers include pharmaceutical R&D teams, diagnostic developers, contract research organisations, university groups, public-sector research teams and life-sciences service providers. The economic buyer may be a head of discovery, translational lead, clinical development director, technology-transfer manager or business-development team, with procurement and legal joining once IP, data use or clinical risk enters the discussion. Smaller projects may be agreed directly after scientific review; larger collaborations tend to pass through due diligence, confidentiality, material-transfer terms and sometimes RFP processes. Sales cycles are usually measured in months, especially where validation or ethics review is involved.
What they buy
Most biotech firms tend to spend on tools that protect scientific quality and extend limited internal capacity. Common purchases include laboratory equipment, reagents, sample storage, sequencing or imaging services, electronic lab notebooks, laboratory information management systems, quality management software, secure cloud storage and data-analysis environments. Commercial and operating teams often need grant accounting, finance, CRM, document control, HR, recruitment and specialist legal support for patents, licensing and collaboration agreements. As assets move closer to clinical or market-facing work, spend can shift towards regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance support, clinical operations, contract research, contract manufacturing and health-economics advice.
Why and how to sell to them
Biotech buyers tend to evaluate suppliers when a scientific programme stops being mainly exploratory and starts needing evidence that can survive partner, investor or regulatory scrutiny. Useful triggers include a grant award, new laboratory lease, senior scientific or clinical hire, patent activity, a move towards an MHRA-facing submission, or a commercial partnership with a larger life-sciences buyer. Outbound usually lands better when it is tied to a concrete research bottleneck: reproducibility, audit trails, sample throughput, outsourced capacity, IP control, security review or the cost of delayed experiments. Claims need to be specific, cited and cautious; generic efficiency language rarely fits the way these teams buy.
How this list is built
Data sources
This list is built from UK Companies House filings, XBRL accounts data, and semantic analysis of each company's public website. Revenue and headcount figures come from the most recent filed accounts; where the company has not filed, values are estimated using a model trained on filed history and peer benchmarks and are labelled as estimates.
Classification
Rather than relying solely on SIC codes, Firmbase classifies each company semantically: the company's website is crawled, an AI model reads what the company actually sells, and the company is placed into the relevant industry and subsectors. SIC codes are used as one signal but not the only one. This means a company that registered under a generic SIC code but pivoted into (for example) fintech is correctly identified as fintech, not as its original SIC category.
Freshness
The underlying company data is refreshed from Companies House continuously; filings appear in the list within days of submission. The curated list ordering is regenerated when the underlying data moves meaningfully (company count changes by more than 5%, a new company enters the top-ranked segment, or the filed-revenue numbers for the top firms change). You can see the last-updated timestamp near the top of the page.
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Frequently asked questions
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