Owlstone Medical, a UK-based respiratory diagnostics technology developer backed by insurance firm Aviva and manufacturing services provider Foxconn, raised $58m in series D funding on Tuesday.
Venture capital firm Horizon Ventures led the round, which surpassed Owlstone’s $50m target and included unnamed investors from the US, Asia and the Middle East, bringing the company’s total funding to over $150m.
Founded in 2016 after spinning off from Owlstone – a chemical detection technology provider – Owlstone Medical is developing diagnostic devices such as its Breath Biopsy system, a breathalyser that will detect lung cancer, other respiratory illnesses and even liver disease from biomarkers in a patient’s breath.
The funding will be put toward advancing work on the Breath Biopsy platform, as well as developing and commercialising Owlstone’s pipeline of diagnostic research tests. Horizons Ventures investor Patrick Zhang is taking a board seat at the company.
Owlstone completed a $50m funding round in October 2018 with a $35m Horizon Ventures-led close that also featured Foxconn and Ventura Capital, following a $15m first tranche provided by Aviva’s corporate venturing unit, Aviva Ventures, and Horizon Ventures seven months earlier. Aviva had previously provided a capital injection understood to be about $5m in 2017.
Billy Boyle, co-founder and chief executive at Owlstone Medical, said: “We are thrilled to have the support of such highly respected investors as we strive to have a major impact on patient outcomes and the efficient delivery of healthcare resources and are very pleased to now welcome the experience and insight of Horizons’ Patrick Zhang to our board.”
