Biofortuna

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.