UK-listed sugar company Tate & Lyle’s corporate venturing unit has invested £500,000 ($825,000) in the series B round for Lumora, which tests molecules for use in the food sector.
Tate & Lyle Ventures is Lumora’s major shareholder having previously backed the company.
A further £1m in the round came from venture capital firm Catapult Venture Managers.
The money will be used to help UK-based Lumora enter the clinical molecular diagnostic market, such as an integrated testing station for gastrointestinal infections and an HIV viral load monitoring system to support drug therapy in the developing world.
Lumora started operations in 2003 developing novel assays for the military, received seed investment in March 2004 from a set of private investors headed by Peter Kohl and the University of Cambridge Challenge Fund and obtained over £500,000 in grants and awards between 2004 and 2007 when Tate & Lyle invested an undisclosed amount.