Women’s health diagnostic company Concepta has completed a GBP2.3m round of equity financing managed by Diagnostic Capital.
The company was founded off the back of the technology and expertise of former senior Unipath scientists, who were responsible for creating leading brands of digital fertility tests, pregnancy tests and other women’s health diagnostics in the market today, including the Clearblue pregnancy tests.
Concepta will now develop and market a novel diagnostic device for the simple and accurate testing of fertility, pregnancy and early stage healthy pregnancy monitoring.
In addition, appointments to the board and management team have also been announced.
Dr Ian Gilham joins as chairman. He is the former CEO of Axis-Shield, a diagnostic company which had sales of over GBP100m and was acquired by Alere for GBP235m, and is a current chairman of Horizon Discovery which recently completed an IPO valuing the company at GBP165m.
David Evans joins the team as a director. Evans has significant experience and contacts worldwide within the In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) industry and is currently chairman and investor in a number of listed and private companies.
The fundraising was managed by Diagnostic Capital with Evans as the lead angel investor, representing a syndicate of prominent high-net worth Diagnostic Capital clients, combined with investment from the Angel CoFund and significant follow-on investment from Finance Yorkshire’s Seedcorn Fund, who have supported the management team from inception.
Mark Wyatt, investment director at Finance Yorkshire, says: “We have worked closely with the Concepta team for some time, and have been impressed with their combined expertise and knowledge of this sector. This is a significant early stage fundraising, and I look forward to continuing to work with the company as it brings its exciting products to market.”
Tim Mills, investment director at the Angel CoFund, says: “At the Angel CoFund we seek to support great and innovative British businesses, and Concepta certainly hits that note. We have been particularly impressed by the knowledge and experience of the Concepta team, and we welcome today’s announcement; the further expertise that Ian Gilham and David Evans bring with them is invaluable and will be a real asset to Concepta.”
Alex Clarkson, CEO of Diagnostic Capital, says: “We are very pleased to have helped Concepta secure this GBP2.3m equity investment which can now combine with grants being applied for, to provide enough capital to see the plan through to full commercialisation.”
