Eykona Technologies Ltd, an Isis Innovation Spin-out, Raises £1.19m Series A Financing

23 September 2010

Isis Innovation Ltd. welcomes the announcement by Eykona, an Oxford-based medical technology company, that it has completed an investment round of £1.19m. The round, which was over-subscribed, allows Eykona to progress its innovative 3D wound imaging system to launch and beyond.

The financing was led by MTI through the UMIP Premier Fund (UPF) alongside further investment from existing and new shareholders including H2O Venture Partners, Parkwalk EIS Technology Fund 1, Hygea VCT, the London Business Angels Roundtable EIS Fund with three LBA investors and a number of other Angel investors. Technikos LLP remains the largest shareholder.

Eykona Technologies Ltd was spun out through Isis Innovation Ltd, the University of Oxford's wholly-owned technology transfer company in 2007.
Tom Hockaday, MD of Isis Innovation, said, “This is an important landmark for Eykona, a company with great technology that meets a real market need. We are delighted to see technology developed by the University of Oxford contributing to improved healthcare and becoming commercially successful.”

Paul Murphy, CEO of Eykona, expressed his thanks to all investors: “We are at an exciting stage with Eykona, we have great clinical support, a strong health economic rationale and huge interest from the wound care community.  Allowing clinicians to measure wounds, accurately and repeatably, will help improve outcomes, reduce costs and ensure that patients with serious wounds are treated optimally.”

Stephen Brindle, a partner with Technikos, said; “I am particularly pleased that Eykona has completed this funding so successfully, especially as market conditions remain challenging for most early stage companies.  This is testament to Eykona’s management team and their understanding of their technology and its addressable markets.  Our preliminary health economic analysis of the benefits of accurate and repeatable wound measurement indicates potential savings of up to £100m per annum for the NHS.”

 

About Eykona Technologies Ltd.

Eykona is developing and will commercialise hand-held imaging devices for medical markets.  The company’s first product will meet a significant and recognised need to objectively measure hard-to-heal wounds. The NHS spends 3% of its total budget managing patients with these wounds, and objective assessment of wound progress is important to improve outcomes and reduce costs.  Eykona’s products will use patented 3D imaging technology developed at the University of Oxford.  The first product, consisting of proprietary software and a purpose-designed camera, will be launched in Europe and the US next year.  It has already attained significant clinical support, and is expected to become the gold standard for clinical assessment and characterisation of wounds.  Further applications exist in dermatology, reconstructive surgery and cosmetics.

For more information:
www.eykona.com
Paul Murphy, CEO: +44 (0)7817 228411

About Isis Innovation

Isis Innovation is the University of Oxford's technology transfer company and manages the University's intellectual property portfolio, working with University researchers on identifying, protecting and marketing technologies through licensing, spin-out company formation and material sales. Isis files on average one new patent application each week, has concluded over 500 technology licensing agreements, and established 66 new spin-out companies from Oxford. Isis also manages Oxford University Consulting, which arranges consulting services providing clients access to the world-class expertise of the University's academics to enhance innovative capability. Last year OUC arranged over 150 consulting deals. Isis has established a separate business division, Isis Enterprise, offering consulting expertise and advice in technology transfer and open innovation to university, government and industrial clients around the world. Isis was founded in 1987 and is today one of the world's leading technology transfer and innovation management companies.
www.isis-innovation.com

About Teknikos LLP

Technikos is a London based venture capital fund specialising in medical technology.  In 2006 Technikos entered into a long term commercial partnership with Oxford University’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering.

For more information:
Stephen Brindle: +44 (0)7920 493030

About MTI

MTI is a leader in the field of technology venture capital, and one of the most successful and experienced technology fund managers in the UK. MTI has a sustained performance record across more than two decades and five venture funds.  MTI’s latest fund, The UMIP Premier Fund, is Europe’s largest institutional fund to have a single university focus and works in partnership with the University of Manchester.
www.mtifirms.com

About UMIP

The University of Manchester Intellectual Property Limited (UMIP) is the managing agent of The University of Manchester for intellectual property commercialisation. UMIP's role is to enhance the reputation of the University's intellectual property development through successful spin-out and licensing business activities.

UMIP will manage early stage proof-of-principle awards, which are a novel feature of the Fund, thereby kick-starting the new ideas coming out of the University. The University currently has up to ten spinout companies looking for funding.
www.umip.com

About the UMIP Premier Fund ("UPF")

UPF invests in businesses emerging from The University of Manchester’s “5-star” rated academic departments. The University’s technology transfer company, UMIP, undertakes the stringent business selection of the investments and the fund is managed by the UK’s leading technology investment manager, MTI Partners.

The Fund will primarily make late-seed stage investments, in a total of 15 - 20 companies, initially in the £250k - £750k range, with both the intention and capacity to provide follow-on investment up to £3m.

The UMIP Premier Fund is supported by the European Union through the “Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme” (“CIP”).

About London Business Angels

London Business Angels is a leading UK Angel Investment Network. We help innovative early stage companies raise equity finance of between £100k and £1m through our exclusive and experienced membership of angel investors. We achieve results: Since 2000, our investors have funded over 175 companies, amounting to over £35 million invested.

For more information:
www.lbangels.co.uk
E: enquiries@lbangels.co.uk

About the LBA EIS Round Table

The London Business Angels EIS Round Table Fund is the first of its kind in the UK. This EIS approved fund, which launched in March 2010, offers an innovative approach for leveraging Angel investments through match funding as a cornerstone investor, as well as offering relevant tax benefits to our investors. This new FSA regulated fund is raised exclusively from LBA's investor member base, and offers important co-investment funding alongside LBA's angel deals.

The Fund acts as a catalyst for investment, while also allowing our investor members to spread their investment across a number of our carefully selected companies. The fund looks to co-invest approximately 5 companies out of the 42 selected to present to the network as a cornerstone investor each year, and invests up to £100k in an individual deal.