Owlstone Medical, the UK-based creator of a lung disease diagnostics device, has closed its latest funding round at $50m after raising $35m from investors including manufacturing services provider Foxconn.
Venture capital firm Horizons Ventures led the second tranche, which included investment firm Ventura Capital. It followed a $15m first close co-led by Horizons Ventures and Aviva Ventures, the strategic investment arm of insurance firm Aviva, in March this year.
Spun out of chemical detection technology provider Owlstone in 2016, Owlstone Medical has created a breathalyser called the Breath Biopsy platform, which will detect lung cancer by detecting biomarkers on a patient’s breath.
The capital will fund the commercialisation of the system, and Owlstone Medical expects to leverage the expertise of China-based Foxconn and Horizons Ventures to grow its business in that country. It will also support the introduction of Breath Biopsy kits and the improvement of the core technology.
Billy Boyle, Owlstone Medical’s co-founder and CEO, said: “We have been gratified by the high level of international interest we have received over the course of this raise, demonstrating that the need for improved diagnostic modalities that solve the challenges of early detection and precision medicine is global.
“We enjoyed particularly strong interest from Asian investors in the round, and as China is a key market for the company we are encouraged by the strategic value of these partners as we seek to accelerate entry into this market.”
The company said the latest round increased its total funding to $73m, $7m of which came in a mid-2016 round led by private investment fund Medtekwiz Advisory. Aviva provided an undisclosed amount of funding for the company in March 2017.
Photo courtesy of Owlstone Medical Ltd.
