London-based Lifted has raised £1.5m in seed funding to transform the home care sector. The startup has been founded by Zero 1, a new corporate venture builder which is working with FTSE 100 corporate partners, to build companies that can tackle the world’s biggest challenges. 

Echopoint Medical Ltd, a spinout company from UCL, has raised £2.8m to develop optical sensing technology to help heart disease patients in a grey zone where the need for treatment is unclear.

Coronary heart disease is a major cause of death worldwide and more than 7 million* people have a diagnosis in the UK alone. Narrowing arteries caused by the disease are commonly treated by the insertion of tiny tubes called stents, but the process is both risky and expensive.

Ortho Solutions, a specialist orthopaedic design manufacturer, has secured a £2 million funding facility from Independent Growth Finance (IGF) to develop a new range of innovative medical solutions. Founded in 2001, the privately-owned Essex based manufacturer supplies NHS and private hospitals throughout the UK with implant systems used in foot and ankle surgery.

Kare Plus National Limited has received a £910,000 loan from MEIF Maven WM Debt Finance, part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund.

MGB Biopharma, a biopharmaceutical company developing a novel class of anti-infectives to address the major global problem of antibiotic resistance, has announced the completion of its latest funding round. The over-subscribed fund-raise was supported by new and existing investors, led by Archangel Investors and including Scottish Investment Bank (the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s national economic development agency), Barwell and TriCapital Investors.

Blackfinch Ventures has invested £540,000 into innovate start-up Kokoon. The London based company has developed the world’s first sleep aiding headphones, allowing customers to take control of their sleep. Kokoon has developed noise cancelling headphones that include bio-sensors, measuring when the wearer falls asleep.  The product is specifically designed to help the customer sleep using its relaxing audio and soundscapes. The connected app, Kokoon Relax, monitors and tracks the users’ sleep journey, providing suggested audio that is specifically designed to protect the user from disturbances throughout the night.

Clyde Biosciences Ltd. has raised a £2 million ‘Series A’ investment led by Epidarex Capital, a leading international early-stage life science venture capital fund. Scottish Enterprise’s investment arm, the Scottish Investment Bank, also participated in the round along with Glasgow University Holdings, Ltd.

PredictImmune, developers of pioneering prognostic tools for guiding treatment options and improving patient outcomes in immune-mediated diseases, is delighted to welcome Tim Rea, an investor at BGF, to its board.

Scottish biotech company, and the market leader in gene therapy control technologies, Synpromics, has been bought by AskBio, the American pioneer in gene therapeutics.  EIS and VCT fund manager Calculus Capital, which first invested in Synpromics in 2015 and invested £5.6m into the company in total, will receive a return on investment that significantly exceeds target returns.

Wellington Partners has announced the final close of its fifth-generation fund Wellington Partners Life Science Fund V (WPLS-V).  

Thriva, the proactive health company, has secured a £6M Series A funding round. The funding will support Thriva as it builds towards it’s ambitious vision: to put optimal health in anyone’s hands.  The round, from a range of investors including Pembroke VCT and Guinness Asset Management, takes the total raised by Thriva to £7.5m since its launch in 2016.  Thriva offers affordable, clinical-grade insights based on the latest research and has helped over 100,000 people understand how their lifestyle is impacting their health.

The Animal Health Laboratory within the Colorado Department of Agriculture is assisting in a trial of Actiphage®, a new rapid blood test for