Octopus Investments has made an investment of GBP1.7m into Michelson Diagnostics, a medical equipment and scanner specialist.
The investment in Michelson represents the 21st deal concluded by Octopus this year.
Chief executive Jon Holmes founded Michelson with four colleagues in 2006. The company’s first product based on its patented technology, the VivoSight scanner, targets the non-invasive diagnosis and treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer. The scanner enables clinicians to see under the skin surface in real time, to help them decide whether to treat a lesion, what treatment to use, and to show them how far a tumour has spread.
The investment from Octopus will help fund the manufacture and placement of VivoSight scanners with key opinion leaders for clinical and economic validation, and will support the growth of the sales infrastructure in the UK and US.
Alliott Cole of Octopus says: “Jon is a very capable, articulate chief executive whose team has built a compelling product with strong technology and intellectual property. Michelson now faces the challenges of selling into a global market and we are very excited to be partnering them as they start this process.”
Holmes adds: “It is a great pleasure to work with Octopus. The depth of network and business expertise in growing early stage businesses both within the team and within the Octopus Venture Partner Group will be invaluable in helping to power our growth in 2011 and beyond.”
Funds were provided from the Octopus Titan VCT funds, the Eureka EIS Portfolio Service and the Octopus Venture Partners.