Catapult invests £1.5m in Lumora

 

Investment

Catapult has injected just over £1m from its Catapult Growth Fund, with the balance coming from follow-on investment from Lumora’s major shareholder, Tate & Lyle Ventures.

Lumora will use the funds to enter into the clinical molecular diagnostic market, valued at $6bn.

Catapult was attracted by Lumora’s technology, by its management team, the co-investor partner as well as by the opportunity to expand into the clinical diagnostics sector.

Company

Lumora was founded in 2002 by Laurence Tisi and Jim Murray and currently has 13 employees.

The Cambridgeshire-based company has developed BART Technology, a platform for molecular diagnostics based on signalling chemistry. The technology is simple to use and low cost for both hardware and consumables. It allows tests to be performed at a single temperature and without the need for optics. Lumora is already collaborating with an undisclosed not-for-profit organisation in the field of HIV viral load monitoring.

People

Ed Wass and Jonathan Earl led the deal for Catapult, while Laurence Tisi acted for Lumora. David Atkinson represented Tate & Lyle Ventures, an existing investor. Catapult has introduced a non-executive director to the board, Jim Reid, who has a track record in the molecular diagnostic sector.

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