Case Study - Michelson Diagnostics

In October 2007 Michelson Diagnostics successfully raised £600,000 of seed funding through London Business Angels and its sister fund London Seed Capital and Birmingham based Catapult Venture Managers.

Michelson Diagnostics has the potential to significantly impact a growing market for diagnosis, treatment and post-operative monitoring of early stage cancers. The fast growing company has developed innovative, next generation, optical imaging technology which can scan 2mm below the surface of human skin and enables clinicians to view cellular activity in real-time on a computer screen.

Within a clinical setting, this technology will allow surgeons to not only see the size and location of a tumour in real-time but also allow them to assess tumour margin and spread, providing better surgical outcomes and less chance of readmission.

The technology will enable faster, more accurate surgery on cancer cells and there will be associated benefits for both the patient and clinician, when compared with the slow, painstaking process of taking multiple samples of tissue for analysis.

Ex-vivo clinical testing at University College London and Gloucestershire Royal Hospital has already demonstrated the huge potential of this new technology and the new investment from the business angels and seed fund has enabled further enhancements and in-vivo trials in a clinical environment.

The investment round was led by investment fund London Seed Capital in conjunction with London Business Angels and Catapult Venture Managers.

The company initially presented to the London Business Angels network in late March 2007 and, following strong ex-vivo clinical results of the technology in July, London Seed Capital led the deal with a lead angel from the London Business Angels network who has taken a non-executive position on the board of Michelson Diagnostics.

The lead angel investor was able add considerable value through his past experience as a Financial Director and his wealth of knowledge of the UK medical industry.