Life sciences fund makes maiden investments
THE £30m fund for exciting early-stage life science business in Cheshire and Manchester, has made its first two investments.
The GM&C Life Sciences Fund has backed Manchester-based bio-medical knowledge database provider Biorelate and cancer therapy start-up Pronec, which is based in Alderley Park, Cheshire.
The fund, which is managed by Catapult Ventures, was formed by Cheshire and Warrington Enterprise Partnership, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Cheshire East Council, and Manchester Science Partnerships.
Dr Gareth King, investment manager at Catapult said: “I’m delighted that we have successfully completed two seed investments in very exciting innovative companies.
“Both companies are recent start-ups but have already made excellent progress. What we liked about Pronec was the deep scientific knowledge of the founders, which is based on decades of investigative research. Biorelate has done particularly well to generate revenue so early into its existence, having spent a year in a beta phase commercialising the founder’s PhD work at the University of Manchester on big data computational analysis.”
Prof Hilmar Warenius, chief medical officer and co-founder of Pronec said “I’m extremely grateful to Catapult for recognising the therapeutic potential of Pronec’s different approach to cancer biology. I look forward to developing new drugs for the benefit of patients, their families and society.”
Dr Daniel Jamieson, chief executive of Biorelate added: “I’m very happy that we’ve been able to secure this investment, marking an important strategic milestone in our progress. As well as the capital available, it was important to us that the investors had a deep knowledge of the industry and we’ve already been highly impressed by the support and guidance offered.
“No doubt the investment will be pivotal in enabling us to take the next steps forward and we’re now focused on spawning new and innovative projects to add to our growing portfolio of excellent results.”
The fund can be invested in businesses across the following sectors: pharmaceuticals; biotechnology; diagnostics; life science contract research organisations; healthcare technologies and medical devices.
