QUEEN’S University spin-out Causeway Sensors has said its latest round of funding marks the final stepping-stone on its path to commercialisation.
The company, which has developed a patented nano sensor platform, has been backed by £1.3 million from Bank of Ireland’s Kernel Capital growth fund, with Queen’s commercial arm QUBIS injecting another £250,000.
Causeway’s platform is targeted at the pharma sector, helping screen and capture data much faster, which may in turn speed up the time it takes to bring a drug to market.
Set up in 2016 following 20 years of research at Queen’s University, Causeway has successfully secured a series of funding rounds.
Last year it was awarded £3.3m from UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) as part of the Smart Nano NI consortium, led by Seagate Technology.
That has prompted some internal restructuring, with founder Dr Bob Pollard taking on the role of executive president while Dr Antony Murphy has moved to the chief executive role.
Deirdre Francis, formerly of Intelesens, has been appointed to the newly created role of finance director.
Mr Murphy said the £1.5m has put Causeway on the final stepping-stone on the path to commercialising its technology.
“This investment, along with the competitive grant-funding we were awarded from UKRI, will put Causeway in a strong position to fully validate our first product with blue-chip pharmaceutical companies before entering the bioproduction market,” he said.
Commenting on its latest investment into the Queen’s spin-out, Niall Olden, managing partner at Kernel Capital said: “There is an unmet need for instrumentation that can provide high value data in real time, online, throughout the drug development process, we believe Causeway Sensors can deliver on that need.”
David Moore from QUBIS added: “Causeway is a great example of the deep tech that exists within the current QUBIS portfolio and we are delighted to once again support the team with their plans to bring this ground breaking technology into the market.”
