HBAN (Halo Business Angel Network), the all-island organisation responsible for the promotion of business angel investment, and a joint initiative of Enterprise Ireland and InterTrade Ireland, today announces that its MedTech Syndicate has led a €1.1 million Series A funding round in medical device start-up, Ostoform. HBAN Angels contributed €280,000, with venture capital investor, SOSV, Enterprise Ireland, and other angel investors making up the rest of the funding round.

Dublin-based Ostoform was set up to address the management of a stoma – a small surgical opening on the surface of the abdomen to divert the flow of waste. A common complaint is irritation, redness and discomfort around the skin caused by leaks of the acidic content contacting the skin. Ostoform has developed the Ostoform Seal with FlowAssist. This is a seal that is secured to the skin around the stoma to effectively guide the acidic stoma output into the ostomy bag, thereby preventing it from contacting the skin. 

The latest Healthtech M&A Market Report from international technology mergers and acquisitions advisors, Hampleton Partners, reveals how Big Data is fast becoming the common currency that lies at the heart of high-value business models in the healthtech sector.

In addition to booming strategic investment in the sector, the first half of 2018 saw record private equity investment and five multi-billion-dollar deals, pushing the total disclosed transaction value to $13.4 billion with a 30-month trailing disclosed EV\EBITDA ratio in excess of 16x.

Download the full Hampleton Partners Healthtech M&A Market Report: https://hampletonpartners.com/healthtech-report-2018

NPIF - Maven Equity Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, has invested £200,000 as part of a £700,000 funding round in Biorelate, a technology platform using artificial intelligence (AI) to efficiently curate data in biomedicine.

Existing investors, Catapult Ventures via the Greater Manchester and Cheshire Life Sciences Fund, provided £150,000 and the Manchester Tech Trust Angels provided £350,000. The funding will be used to expand the team, and to develop its product offering, including three new SaaS products.

aescuvest and EIT Health have launched the first pan-European equity crowdfunding platform for European healthcare companies today: aescuvest.eu will be the number one such platform dedicated to foster and fund innovations from European start-ups and SMEs in an end-to-end digital process, and allow companies to promote campaigns and EU citizens to invest across borders. The platform will give both, retail and institutional investors access to best-in-class companies in the core health sectors biotechnology, medical technology and digital health. As prospectus-based security offerings, investment opportunities went through a thorough approval process. The start of the first campaign is expected in Q4 2018.

In partnership with The Invested Investor, a project founded by Peter and Alan Cowley to help entrepreneurs and early stage investors achieve greater success by sharing lessons learned, Angel News is delighted to publish this interview focusing on the altruistic, enterprising, human genomic data expert and CEO of Repositive, Fiona Nielsen. 

This interview was originally published on The Invested Investor https://www.investedinvestor.com/articles/2018/9/11/start-up-spotlight-with-fiona-nielsen

Arecor, the UK-based biopharmaceutical formulation company, has raised £6 million from new and existing investors to develop groundbreaking pharmaceutical drugs to transform the treatment of diabetes. The fundraising was led by Calculus Capital, Albion Capital, and Downing Ventures.  BioScience Managers Limited, the international healthcare investment firm, advised Downing Ventures.

Through the application of its technology platform, Arecor is creating faster working, more effective drugs that help progress the creation of the next generation of artificial pancreas systems. The Company’s ultra-rapid acting insulin and ultra-concentrated insulins more closely mimic the insulin profile and response to glucose of healthy individuals, improving health outcomes and quality of life for people living with diabetes while reducing the wider costs to health services and society.

NVM has invested £2.75 million of growth capital (with the balance of the £3.2m funding round provided by existing investors and private individuals) into Reading-based pharmaceutical company Ridge Pharma Limited (“Ridge”). Ridge is an emerging UK pharmaceutical business set to commercialise their first product in late 2018, with further launches thereafter.   Ridge was founded on the belief that consistently offering medicines with distinct benefits and clear value is at the heart of a rewarding and sustainable business.

Data released by Beauhurst shows that venture capital funding for this the healthcare sector is on course for a significant drop following 2017.  Should we be worried? And what factors are playing into this lack of funding? Beauhurst explores some of the sector's potential weaknesses. 

Foresight Group has invested £2.5 million to support the partial buy-out of Bolton-based community healthcare and wellbeing provider ABL Health Limited.

ABL is a provider of community healthcare and wellbeing services across the North of England. The Company was founded in 2009 by Denise Leslie and Dr Sheena Bedi, as a means of providing a range of innovative, evidence based, healthy lifestyle, behavioural change and wellbeing programmes including weight management, nutrition support and smoking cessation. The business has helped approximately 12,000 clients record weight loss in the North-West region, mainly in Manchester, St Helens, Wigan and Blackpool, and over 5,000 clients have significantly improved their mental health. On the Wirral, over 3,000 people have stopped smoking as a direct response to the ABL program in the last two years.

Following a significant loan from the Development Bank of Wales, a north Wales company will save salmon farmers millions of pounds a year while simultaneously supporting efforts of superior sustainability practices. 

Ocean Matters, based at Penmon, Anglesey, is using a natural solution to fight the continuing biosecurity challenges associated with the parasites. It breeds lumpfish, a type of cleaner fish that feeds off sea lice and in doing so provides a cleaner growing environment for farmed salmon.  

The developers of a technology that helps clinicians and healthcare professionals to treat people suffering from sleeping problems more effectively has received two high-profile accolades.

Rinicare Limited, a leading intelligent healthcare company has announced the completion of its financing round by welcoming new investors Catapult Ventures and NPIF - Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia Fund Managers and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.

The funding will be used to support the commercialisation of Rinicare’s digital healthcare portfolio, which is designed to provide solutions that improve outcomes and reduce costs in a number of settings such as emergency, primary and community care as well as progress its AI-powered predictive algorithm for intensive care.