Owlstone Medical raises $50m

Owlstone Medical said today it raised $50 million (UK £38 million) in a new round of financing, with funds slated to help support the targeted launch of its breath biopsy kits and continued development of its technology platforms.

The funding includes an initial $15 million (UK £11 million) the U.K.-based company reported raising in March, and brings the total the company has raised so far up to $73 million (UK £56 million).

The round was led by Aviva Ventures and Horizons Ventures and joined by a number of strategic investors including Ventura Capital and Foxconn Technologies Group, Owlstone Medical said.

“Following our initial investment in Owlstone Medical, we have become further convinced that Breath Biopsy has the potential to transform the fields of early cancer detection and precision medicine in the years to come. We believe that Owlstone Medical is uniquely positioned to be able to facilitate this change and so have provided additional support to help realize this vision,” Horizon Ventures’ Patrick Zhang said in a press release.

Owlstone Medical said that with the fundraising, it is now positioned to explore expansion into key markets including China, and to find high-quality manufacturing partners and more international funding sources.

“The closing of this round of financing marks a significant milestone for Owlstone Medical as it places us in a very secure financial position with a balance sheet sufficient to pursue all of our strategic commercial and development plans over the next several years, which we will execute through a combination of internal efforts and partnerships with industry leaders. We have been gratified by the high level of international interest we have received over the course of this raise, demonstrating that the need for improved diagnostic modalities that solve the challenges of early detection and precision medicine is global. We enjoyed particularly strong interest from Asian investors in the round, and as China is a key market for the Company we are encouraged by the strategic value of these partners as we seek to accelerate entry into this market,” co-founder & CEO Billy Boyle said in a press release.

In April, pharmaceutical giant Astra Zeneca inked a deal with Owlstone Medical to use the diagnostics company’s breath biopsy device to identify biomarkers for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

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