Biofortuna » News

Biofortuna Limited secures £1.06M investment

admin — Thu, 13 May 2010 23:00:51 +0000

UK-based venture and growth capital funds EV and Catapult Venture announced that they have provided funding to Liverpool-based molecular diagnostics company, Biofortuna Limited.

The funding will be used to launch the company’s first diagnostic genotyping products and to allow it to continue development of its future product pipeline.

The management team is led by CEO Mike Bunce and fellow Directors, David Charvill and Ben Passey, who, following this funding round, will be joined by Dr David Whitcombe, who was part of the founding team of DXS, a North West based Molecular Diagnostics company sold to Qiagen in 2009 in a deal worth £80M. Additionally, Geoff Orme joins as financial director.

Mike Bunce commented, “Biofortuna are very pleased to be working with two new successful investment firms, EV and catapult, who join our existing investment firm of Liverpool Seed Fund. This investment will ensure that the strong progress we have made in the last year will accelerate and help our innovative product portfolio expand over the next year. The new investment will help us to strengthen our team and expand our research and manufacturing capabilities as we look forward to launching more products throughout 2010 and beyond. We thank Halliwells’ Corporate Partner, Craig Scott and Associate, Richard McKay for advising Biofortuna on this deal. In addition, we would like to thank Mark Hurley and Lorna Green for their help and advice in fundraising.”

Julian Viggars, EV’s Head of Technology, said, “Biofortuna is a business we have tracked for a number of months now. I believe it is very well placed to benefit from the progression in thinking around how innovative, easy-to-use genotyping products will increasingly be used in the management of organ transplant processes, to identify potential adverse drug reactions or check the efficacy of expensive drugs across pharmacogenomics.”

“Mike and his team have built the company around a deep knowledge of the current marketplace and are highly rated. In David Whitcombe, we have added a manager who has been involved in building and very successfully exiting a related business, and with co-investor Catapult, the company now has the strong financial backing that will be required to succeed.”

Ben Bolt, Investment Director at Catapult, commented: “Biofortuna has all of the key ingredients that Catapult looks for in a successful early-stage investment. This includes a management team combining both scientific and commercial skills and headed up by a thought-leader in the field. In addition, the company is benefiting from the addition of an experienced non-executive director. Add to this core products with genuine and proven USPs, a mature product development pipeline and a market that is innovative, embraces change and is growing; and this is a very exciting investment. We look forward to helping Mike and his team grow the Biofortuna brand.”

Legal advice to Catapult Venture Managers and EV was provided by James Trevis and Jon Gill of Eversheds, and to the company by Craig Scott and Richard McKay of Halliwells.

Biofortuna and Lab901 to collaborate on rapid genotyping projects

admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:00:59 +0000

Lab901 (Edinburgh, UK) and Biofortuna (Liverpool, UK) today announced that they will collaborate on the launch of an automated PCR based diagnostics system for the rapid detection of certain HLA-related diseases such as Coeliac disease. Lab901 will be optimising its automated ScreenTape® PCR diagnostics platform for use with Biofortuna’s range of multiplex PCR diagnostics kits for the detection of Coeliac disease and other HLA-related diseases such as reactive arthritis, diabetes and drug hypersensitivity.

Biofortuna achieve ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 13485:2003

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:00:50 +0000

Biofortuna were today approved by Lloyds Register Quality Assurance for the design and manufacture of genotyping and phenotyping in-vitro diagnostic products which enables us to sell CE marked products.

The rapid progress in quality management is testament to the dedication and skill of our quality team and our consultant Dave Ashworth from Flintloque Management Systems.

(See also www.lrqa.co.uk and www.flintloque.co.uk)

Biofortuna awarded the Biomedical Start Up Company of the Year (sponsored by Baker Tilly)

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:00:40 +0000

Over 200 people from the Northwest’s biomedical sector gathered last night (Thursday 12th November) at the prestigious annual Northwest Biomedical Awards at Mere Golf and Country Club. The awards, organised by Bionow, the Northwest Regional Development Agency’s (NWDA) biomedical cluster support group, were a resounding success and showcased the very best of the region’s world class biotechnology sector.

The award to Biofortuna is recognition of the progress we have made from a small start-up company to manufacture of our first products in little over a year; this reflects a real team effort from everyone at Biofortuna and the vital external support from Liverpool Ventures, MSIF, NWDA and the 2Bio team at MerseyBio.

Picture: Graham Bond of Baker Tilly (right) presents the Start-up of the Year award to Mike Bunce (left).

Biofortuna secure further funding

admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:26:43 +0000

Biofortuna secure an offer of £94,558 from the Northwest Development Agency in a grant for Research & Development. The grant will enable Biofortuna to develop a novel DNA genotyping method that has the potential to allow healthcare professionals to look at multiple gene mutations simultaneously in one rapid test.

(Also featured in the Bionow May newsletter)

Biofortuna welcomes new key employees

admin — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:31:03 +0000

Mark Reardon and Andy Bonner join Biofortuna as Software Development manager and Operations manager respectively.

(Also featured on the Merseybio website)

Biofortuna secure commercialisation funding from Allied Fund Managers

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:33:10 +0000

Following successful proof of concept work AFM through the Liverpool Seed Fund inject £450,000 into Biofortuna in two rounds of funding to complete the proof of concept and commercialisation phases.

(Also featured on the Liverpool Daily Post website)

Biofortuna Limited Join the MerseyBIO Incubator

admin — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:35:02 +0000

Biofortuna founding directors David Charvill and Ben Passey begin setting up laboratories at the MerseyBio incubator facility. Ben Passey, said “The MerseyBIO Incubator is a fantastic resource for local start-up companies. It offers flexible, affordable lab and office space as well as great support services which really help fledgling companies get off to a great start. Being adjacent to the University’s Biosciences building and being surrounded by other young companies, the Incubator has a positive buzz that makes us confident that we will have a bright future”.

Geoff Wainwright of 2Bio added “We are delighted to welcome the Biofortuna team into the MerseyBIO Incubator to join our other companies. Biofortuna are working in a very exciting area of the healthcare diagnostics industry and we are looking forward to them launching their ground-breaking products into the marketplace.”

Biofortuna Limited secure proof of concept funding from Merseyside Special Investment Fund and Liverpool Ventures

admin — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:35:41 +0000

Biofortuna secures an initial round of funding from the Merseyside Special Investment Fund via Liverpool Ventures.

The Biofortuna team is made up of founder directors Mike Bunce, David Charvill and Ben Passey, previously of Wirral based Invitrogen, formerly Dynal Biotech Ltd.