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Spin-out offering new hope for dialysis patients raises funding

Invizius’s technology stems from research by the company’s co-founder and CTO, Dr Andy Herbert, and his team who believe it could reduce the huge death toll from cardiovascular disease among long-term dialysis patients. Currently life expectancy on dialysis is just onethird of normal, and half of patients die from cardiovascular complications. The problem is that the immune system sees the dialysis filter as a foreign body, creating inflammation that damages the cardiovascular system over time. The company’s H-Guard product is a powerful anti-inflammatory which can be used to coat the filter surface to ‘hide’ it and prevent an immune response. The technology also has potential for use with devices such as heart and lung machines, stents and grafts or in organ and cell transplants. Invizius has won awards including OBN Best Innovative Medtech and was named as one of the Fierce 15 Medtech companies to watch. Invizius was Mercia’s first investment following its partnership with the University of Edinburgh. Since its initial £500,000 investment in April last year, it has worked with the company to develop its offering and attract other investors. The Invizius team is supported by Edinburgh Innovations (EI), the University’s commercialisation service. EI has also helped develop the partnership between Mercia and the University, and manages Old College Capital. Dr George Baxter, Chief Executive Officer of Edinburgh Innovations, said: “This substantial investment reflects the great promise we’ve seen in Invizius from the initial identification of novel science, and the University is pleased to join the consortium in backing this technology, which holds so much potential for so many people.” Invizius received early-stage funding from Scottish Enterprise’s High-Growth Spinout Programme, with the agency now following this up with support from its investment arm, the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB).

Invizius, the University of Edinburgh spin-out whose technology could help reduce the high death rates amongst dialysis patients, has raised £2.75m from a consortium of investors.

The funding round was led by Mercia and included Downing Ventures, the University’s Old College Capital fund and the Scottish Investment Bank. This latest investment will support the company as it conducts pre-clinical testing and manufacturing, and prepares to enter clinical trials and to raise Series A funding.

“Our goal is to bring much-needed improvement to the lives of three million dialysis patients. This investment allows us to take a big step towards this, and we are delighted to have won the backing of a consortium of smart, well-funded investors.”

Richard Boyd Co-founder and CEO Invizius