Nottingham life sciences firm raises £10m in funding round

Locate Bio, the Nottingham-based orthodontics firm, has raised £10m in a funding round.

The syndicated fund raise includes £1.6m from Mercia Asset Management, alongside £4m from Mercia’s third party managed funds, which included EIS and VCT capital, together with £3m from BGF and £1.4m from other syndicate partners.

This funding round has increased Mercia’s direct investment stake to 18.1%, with Mercia’s combined managed funds’ fully diluted stakes now totalling 24.6%. Locate Bio was initially backed in April 2018 by Mercia’s EIS funds.

Locate Bio’s products will be used by orthopaedic surgeons to accelerate the natural repair of bone and cartilage. Addressing a multi-billion pound global market, Locate Bio currently has four products going through trials, the first targeting formal market approval by 2022. The £10m round will support the next stages of these trials including its lead bone graft solution as part of the FDA approval process, as well as the development of additional products acquired last year.

Peter Dines, COO of Mercia Asset Management, said: “This significant investment round, alongside our continuing active approach to supporting the business and its management team, is another example of how our Complete Connected Capital can help accelerate growth, with investment not only by our balance sheet but also by our managed funds and syndicate partners. As Mercia’s representative on the Locate Bio board, this latest investment is testament to the significant potential market value and global reach of the products Locate Bio is currently developing.”