Crioestaminal is a biotechnology company founded in Coimbra, Portugal in 2003, and headquartered in Cantanhede. The company's main activity is collection, and cryopreservation of cord blood stem cells. These cells may be used in therapeutical procedures directed towards several diseases. Besides stem cell cryopreservation, Crioestaminal is involved in several research projects aimed at expanding the field of application of stem cell in partnership with the Instituto de Medicina Molecular (University of Lisbon), the Instituto Português de Oncologia, the Instituto Superior Técnico (Technical University of Lisbon), etc. The company is the sponsor of the Crioestaminal Prize on Biomedical Research.
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The company was founded in 2003 in Coimbra, Portugal, by young entrepreneurs with an academic background ranging from biochemistry to economics, as a Portuguese franchise of Belgium-based company Cryo-Save. All the laboratorial work was carried out in Belgium. In 2006, Crioestaminal opened its own facilities. Currently the company is based in the biotechnological park of the neighbouring town of Cantanhede - biocant park, following its spin-off from the University of Coimbra's business incubator Instituto Pedro Nunes.
Crioestaminal is the Portuguese market leader with over 40,000 customers, almost 50 people working full time, mainly former students of the University of Coimbra. It owns a company in Spain, Spain Crioestaminal, based in Barcelona, and in the Italian market, as well as in other markets. The company is the owner of a spin-off to the area of molecular diagnosis, the Genelab, has almost 700 m2 of space in the Biocant Park, Cantanhede, and has made important investments in R&D.[1]