Biotech firm raises £8.4m in oversubscribed funding round
Biotech company Locate Bio has raised £8.4m to fund its ongoing research into a product that is designed to help people who require surgery for chronic lower back pain.
The oversubscribed funding round will support the ongoing clinical study of LDGraft by the University of Nottingham spin-out.
Last year the product was granted FDA Breakthrough Device designation, a programme run by the American regulator that is designed to speed up patient access to promising technologies.
Locate Bio, which is based at MediCity Nottingham, has now raised more than £26m. This latest round follows on from a £10m round in September 2021.
The deal was announced by Mercia in a wider update to shareholders, alongside separate investments in Warwick Acoustics and MIP Discovery.
Mercia has invested a further £2.5m into Locate Bio as part of the syndicated funding round, and now has a 20.1% stake.
Dr Mark Payton, chief executive of Mercia Asset Management, said: “A number of the companies in our portfolio are maturing as they scale the commercial applications of their underlying IP.
“Furthermore, the syndicated nature of these funding rounds, where nearly 80% of the investment funding is coming from outside of Mercia’s balance sheet, reflects the confidence of the wider venture community in these companies.”
