UK government-backed UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S) has invested in three university-linked businesses in connection with research grant body Innovate UK’s £8.5m ($11.8m) pilot investment accelerator.
The pilot is an effort to encourage private-sector investors to put more into early-stage, grant-funded UK medical businesses in the therapeutic, diagnostic and device segments.
The three university-linked companies are among a cohort of seven to have received sums of undisclosed size from Innovate UK’s program.
Linear Diagnostics, a University of Birmingham molecular diagnostics spinout, has secured funding to develop handheld genetics diagnostics technology based on a technique called linear dichroism to detect drug-resistant urinary tract infections, inappropriate prescriptions and antimicrobial resistance.
The company previously received $390,000 in May 2017 from UKI2S, then known as Rainbow Seed Fund, and Birmingham’s Spinout Investment Fund.
UKI2S has also backed Cagen, a protein nanocage developer based on research from Imperial College London. Protein nanocages are used to efficiently encapsulate and deliver therapeutic drugs that may have poor solubility and bioavailability when administered through conventional methods.
Camstech, a diagnostics sensor technology developer based on research conducted at Queen Mary University of London, has also received capital. Founded in 2014, Camstech previously participated in the Cern Business Incubation Centre run by the government-backed Science & Technology Facilities Council.
UKI2S’s other investment picks were SFH Oxford, a UK-based developer of sensor-powered compression bandages for venous leg ulcers, and C-Major Medical, which has designed a syringe to reduce the chances of needle stick-related injuries.
MyoDopa, which is working on drugs to treat moderate or severe Parkinson’s disease, and Nemesis Bioscience, developers of a technology that would prevent the spread of antibiotic-resistant genes, have both also received funding.
Nick Bassett, head of investor partnerships at Innovate UK, said: “The fundamental concept of the Innovate UK investment accelerator model is to make the best grant funding and investment decision in partnership.”
