BIOCAPTIVA, a University of Edinburgh spin-out that develops advanced technologies to extract cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from blood for cancer liquid biopsies, has appointed experienced life sciences executive, Stephane Argivier as Chair to steer its next phase of international growth. 

 The company’s patented msX platform has the potential to improve the pace and scale of cancer research by addressing a long-standing bottleneck in how samples are prepared for liquid biopsy, which is a growing market in non-invasive genetic testing. 

Bringing 30 years’ experience, including 15 years at board level, specialising in life science enabling tools, in vitro diagnostics (IVD) and critical raw materials, Argivier has built a career leading private, venture-backed and growth-stage businesses through periods of transformation, with particular expertise in strategy, commercial scale-up, governance, fundraising, organisational development and founder transitions. 

Originally from France, Argivier has successfully led businesses through fundraising, growth acceleration and exit. As CEO of MIP Discovery, he secured significant funding while repositioning the company’s strategy towards higher-value markets. He later served for four years as a Non-Executive Director of Logical Biological, supporting its rapid growth, before stepping into the CEO role to lead its next phase of scale-up. Earlier, as Managing Director of SCIPAC, he oversaw sustained growth, expanded the business into high-value diagnostics markets and led its successful acquisition by BBI Group. 

Argivier takes over as BIOCAPTIVA’s Chairmanship from Frank Armstrong, who served since the company’s inception, steering the business through its early technological, organisational and strategic development to lay solid foundations for commercial growth. 

Investment and funding

His appointment follows a series of significant milestones for BIOCAPTIVA including securing £1.5 million funding led by existing investor Archangels and supported by Old College Capital, BBI, Scottish Enterprise and EverQuest Partners. BIOCAPTIVA also secured ISO 13485 certification, appointed Alan Schafer as Chief Technology Officer, and had a successful commercial launch of its technology platform, focused initially on the United States market. 

BIOCAPTIVA CEO Jeremy Wheeler said Armstrong’s leadership has helped transform the company from an innovative technology business into a commercially ready one, while Argivier’s global diagnostics experience and reputation would be invaluable as BIOCAPTIVA scales internationally and pursues the commercial potential of its platform. 

Archangels Director and Head of New Investment Sarah Hardy said Argivier’s appointment would support BIOCAPTIVA’s next phase of growth by accelerating commercial adoption, deepening strategic partnerships and advancing OEM opportunities, while helping the company realise its vision of improving cancer research and outcomes globally. 

Stephane Argivier said: “BIOCAPTIVA has developed a highly differentiated and scalable technology to improve liquid biopsy workflows and sequencing data quality through enhanced pre-analytics. I am delighted to join as Chair and look forward to working with the Board and management team to accelerate commercial adoption and expand the technology’s impact across cfDNA sequencing applications.”