The North of England has some of the most exciting innovations in healthcare, but finding funding to develop and commercialise many of these ground-breaking ideas can often be very difficult.
Medilink North of England, a professional membership association and specialist consultancy for the life sciences sector has taken steps to tackle this issue with two recent investment events, hosted by RBC Brewin Dolphin in Newcastle.
The Medilink Investment Pitching Competition provided an opportunity for seven life sciences companies from across the North of England, each with exciting new medical innovations, to pitch for investment to a group of leading business angels and investors.
Medilink utilised its specialist life science innovation skills to shortlist applicants. The successful companies then pitched to a judging panel composed of Alex Buchan (Northstar Ventures), Jason Hobbs (The North-East Fund), Chris Black (RBC Brewin Dolphin), Shaun Fooy (British Business Bank) and Dr Patrick Trotter (Medilink North of England).
The seven successful companies selected to pitch were: Kerato, Flomark. Viveca Biomed, Sapien View, NunaBio, ClotProtect Therapeutics and ESP Diagnostics.
“It was a truly uplifting experience, from the opening address by Professor Sir John Burn at our angel activation session, to the final pitch from the seven outstanding companies at our pitching session, all demonstrating the extraordinary innovations taking place across the North of England to transform healthcare delivery and save lives.” Said Medilink North of England CEO Tom Elliott.
Chris Black, Divisional Director – Head of Financial Planning at RBC Brewin Dolphin, said, “RBC Brewin Dolphin are delighted we had the opportunity to be partners with Medilink in hosting their first pitch event in the region at our city office in Newcastle. RBC Brewin Dolphin have been in the city for over 125 years and have a long and storied history of supporting new and innovate businesses and their founders in the region.”
Shaun Fooy, Senior Manager, UK Network North East & Tees Valley at the British Business Bank, said, ‘’This event is an opportunity to showcase the depth and strength of the sector in the region and support the business owners as they seek investment to grow and develop their businesses.’’
Alex Buchan, Investment Director at North Star Ventures, said, “Northstar is an early-stage investor concentrating on the North East of England. Our investment focus is on clean tech and healthy life expectancy with a strong interest in life science investments. We are committed to building the life science cluster in the region and we want to see high quality businesses showcased and attracting investment from multiple sources.”
Andrew Tasker, Chief Executive, Viveca Biomed, said, “I am pleased to be invited to join the Medilink Investment Pitching Competition. It’s a great opportunity to showcase locally our leading innovation which changes lives of women suffering from the common condition of bladder leakage. We are looking to connect with North East investors who share our passion to be part of our growth story, and to continue to build our fast-growing specialist women’s health business.”
Joseph Hedley, CEO & Co-Founder, NunaBio, said, “As an early-stage life science company based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, NunaBio is excited to participate in Medilink’s Investment Pitching Competition. It represents a real opportunity to present its groundbreaking technology for DNA synthesis at manufacturing scale to a panel of angels and investors.
“This competition provides an ideal platform to demonstrate the transformative potential of our work in the DNA synthesis space and connect with forward-thinking investors who share our vision for advancing biotechnology in the North East. It is becoming a real hub for biotech innovation, and we’re proud to be part of that story.”
Dale Athey, CEO, ESP Diagnostics, said, “ESP Diagnostics were delighted to be invited to the Medilink pitch event. It’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase our groundbreaking technology and growth plans to an audience of investors. Based upon the work of founder Dr Marzena Kurzawa-Akanbi, ESP Diagnostics has developed a blood test that detects Lewy-body dementia and Parkinson’s disease with high sensitivity, up to 10 years before symptoms manifest, and before the damage is done.”
Ed Hodges from Sapien View, said, “We are delighted Sapien View has been selected by Medilink for the Investment Pitching competition. It’s a massively time-consuming task finding individuals and VCs who have a particular focus on Medtech investments so it’s efficient for both parties to be in the room together. We’re a new spin out from Newcastle University concentrating on using a visual AI app to assess organs and their viability for transplants, so early-stage investors with some knowledge in this arena will be hugely helpful to us.”
Immediately before the pitching session, Medilink ran a unique Business Angel Activation session which was specifically aimed at educating people such as clinicians, surgeons and medical researchers, of the benefits of becoming a Business Angel through investing in new medical innovations.
Speakers at the Business Angel Activation session included Professor Sir John Burn, Professor of Clinical Genetics at Newcastle University & Chairman of QuantuMDx, and Roderick Beer, Managing Director, UK Business Angel Association. The event also featured Jake Timothy, Neurosurgeon & Founder of HaemoConcepts, speaking on importance of early-stage funding for new start-up companies.
Medilink North of England is a professional membership association and specialist consultancy for the life sciences sector, part of Medilink UK, they help businesses and organisations to innovate and prosper by improving sector connectivity and identifying opportunities, as well as helping organisations to grow by providing cost-effective consultancy support to become more competitive and profitable.