News
Aitua invests in Lightning-Link™ company Innova
12 June 2007
The life science IP commercialisation company Aitua Limited (“Aitua”) is pleased to announce that it has invested £100,000 into Innova BioSciences Limited (“Innova"). Innova will use the proceeds to develop its product pipeline, which currently includes the Lightning-Link™ family of conjugation products which massively simplify the production of immunodiagnostics reagents.
Innova supplies reagent kits and consultancy to the life sciences industry. It develops products which as well as dramatically reducing research time, have the potential to improve the researcher’s ability to characterise new targets for diagnosis of diseases. Based on the Babraham Research Campus in Cambridge, UK, Innova is one of a portfolio of investments from Babraham with which Aitua was established in June 2006.
Aitua was joined by Innova Partnerships Limited (“Partnerships”) in the investment round. The Partnerships investment follows on from an agreement 6 months ago when Partnerships agreed to help develop Innova’s business.
Concurrent with the fundraising, Dr Tony Sedgwick was appointed Non Executive Chairman of Innova. Tony has a substantial track-record as a serial biotechnology and pharmaceutical entrepreneur, and was most recently Chief Executive of Cambridge University spin-out, DanioLabs Limited, which was acquired by VASTox plc in March 2007. Aitua’s Chief Executive, Dr Catherine Beech, has also joined the Innova board.
Innova’s Chief Executive, Dr Nick Gee, commented: “I am delighted with Aitua’s and Partnerships’ continued support of Innova. They have not only supplied financial investment, but also introduced our new Chairman, Tony Sedgwick. With their input, experience, and market knowledge, I believe we can now build Innova into a world class developer of novel diagnostics technologies.”
Dr Tony Sedgwick said, “Innova’s Lightning-Link technology
is an extremely exciting commercial opportunity. I look forward to working
with Nick and his team to drive the business forward.”