A South West research and development company has secured £500,000 from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF).
Molendotech has secured the investment as part of an oversubscribed £1m funding round, which includes investment from appointed CIOSIF fund manager, The FSE Group, Exeter based VC firm QantX, a number of existing private investors and the management team.
The Brixham-based biotech company will use the funds to create an operational unit based in the Health and Wellbeing Innovation Centre in Truro.
The business has developed easy-to-use, portable and rapid tests to monitor and detect pathogens found in water. One of the company’s existing tests is BacterisK+ which can detect gram-negative bacteria in water in less than 30 minutes.
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Molendotech was founded by professor Simon Jackson at the University of Plymouth in 2018. Its customer base includes environmental agencies, water companies, and national and local government authorities, and its methods and assays are protected by patents in several countries including the US, 海角视频, Australia and Japan.
Mr Jackson, chief scientific officer at Molendotech, said: “Being able to detect pathogens quickly and accurately is vital when working to keep communities safe from harm. Our testing solutions can be used quickly and by anyone who has had basic training, meaning rapid action can be taken to address a poor quality environment or danger.
"Whilst our products can be used anywhere in the world we are extremely proud to be a South West company. Receiving support via CIOSIF has meant a lot to us, and we will use part of these funds to employ more local staff over the coming years as our business grows.”
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Anna Staevska, investment manager at The FSE Group, added: “We are delighted to be supporting a local business which has the potential to make a huge difference to the safety of people all over the world. We were impressed by the core team’s extensive knowledge of their sector and their strong links to Plymouth University, which will be incredibly useful throughout the research and development of new solutions. We look forward to seeing their Cornwall team grow and wish them every success for the future.”
The CIOSIF provides debt and equity finance from £25,000 to £2m to help growing small businesses across the region. It was established by the British Business Bank in partnership with the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
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