Queen’s University spin-out VascVersa has completed a six-figure deal in its first investment round, which will allow the company to further develop technology to repair damaged blood vessels.
The medtech start-up is pioneering new treatments for vascular regeneration and its technology will aim to stimulate new blood vessel formation, leading to improved blood supply and long-term healing.
Cell therapies are recognised as one of the leading technologies to drive novel treatments. The company’s first target is “non-healing wounds” such as diabetic foot ulcers. According to 2019 research published by charity Diabetes UK, if the NHS were to reduce the prevalence of diabetic foot ulcers in England by one‐third, the gross annual saving would be more than £250m.
Christina O’Neill, CEO of VascVersa said: “This is a very exciting time for VascVersa, this recent investment is a significant step for us. I’d like to extend my gratitude to QUBIS in leading the investment round, and to the commercialisation team at Queen’s for their invaluable support throughout VascVersa’s development. The funding support from Co-Fund and HBAN has also been invaluable in helping raise a considerable figure in our first round of funding.”
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David Moore, Investment Manager at QUBIS, added: “It has been really encouraging to see VascVersa’s achievements since their market discovery journey on the Innovate UK ICURe programme and their success as Regional Finalists at the Intertrade Ireland Seedcorn competition last year. These new appointments and seed funding success are welcomed milestones for the team and we look forward to seeing their future successes.”
The company has also appointed industry veteran Aidan Courtney as Chairman. Courtney was previously CEO of Roslin Cells and Censo Biotechnologies and has over 15 years’ experience in early-stage cell therapy companies.
Commenting on his appointment, he said: “I am delighted to be joining Christina and the team at this pivotal stage in the company’s development. The technology which builds on 20 years’ research at Queen’s has the potential to tackle a wide range of conditions for which clinical care is currently both expensive and inadequate. VascVersa has the ambition to develop a new generation of treatments and deliver a profound improvement to the lives of many individuals suffering chronic ill health.”
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More information on VascVersa: www.vascversa.org
