Cash-starved genedrive launches fundraising push worth £8m
Manchester molecular testing business, genedrive, has begun its bid for fresh funding.
In March this year it warned it only had a cash runway through to May and needed to find additional funding.
Its interim results announcement in March revealed that its drive for new funds had affected its ‘going concern’ status.
Last night (May 9), after the stock market closed, it announced a series of actions to bolster its finances which could raise just over £8m.
The aim is to raise £3.5m in a retail offer via the Retail Capital Markets ‘REX’ portal, £2.3m through a non-pre-emptive conditional placing, £2.1m from an open offer and £170,000 in a non-pre-emptive firm placing.
This morning, genedrive announced it has successfully raised £2.1m, so far.
The company stressed the REX offer is not part of the placing, the conditional placing or the open offer.
It is aimed at enabling retail shareholders to take part in the fundraise, it said.
In its stock exchange announcement, genedrive said: “The company values its retail shareholder base and believes that it is appropriate to provide retail investors in the United Kingdom the opportunity to participate in the current fundraising.
“Therefore, the company is making the REX offer open to eligible investors in the United Kingdom following release of this announcement through certain financial intermediaries. Individual investors should contact their broker or wealth manager to participate in the REX offer.”
The REX offer is expected to close at, or around, 3pm on May 17.
So far, three intermediaries have confirmed their participation in the REX offer, including AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown and interactive investor.
Genedrive has developed a testing kit that can quickly and accurately identify babies with the primary genetic variant who may be at risk of hearing loss if given aminoglycoside antibiotics. There is currently no test available in the NHS that provides results quickly enough to inform decisions on antibiotic prescribing in emergency care.
The interim results announcement in March revealed the company had achieved revenues of £0.24m, up from £0.02m the previous year.
It made an operating loss of £2.4m, down from £2.7m the prior year. Its R&D spend of £1.9m fell slightly from £2m last time.
At the end of the reporting period genedrive had cash of £1.2m, compared with £26m at June 30, 2023. As of March 20, 2024, it had cash of £1.2m following a recent receipt of R&D tax credit of £0.8m.
