Global: Quiet week in startup funding

Last week was quiet for early stage funding with only two healthcare companies raising capital for expansion.

The most significant was Lumos Diagnostics, a rapid point-of-care diagnostics company, which closed an oversubscribed A$25m (US$18.1m) round of pre-IPO capital ahead of an anticipated listing on the ASX next year.

The capital was raised from a combination of institutional funds, including Perennial Value and Ellerston Capital, as well as sophisticated investors, many of whom have backed Lumos through previous capital raises.

This follows on from a successful Series A raise earlier this year, led by Planet Innovation, a Melbourne-based healthcare innovation company.

The funding will enable the Melbourne-headquartered company to continue to build its high-growth rapid diagnostics business in the US, including expanding manufacturing operations in California and Florida and continuing commercial growth of its finger prick blood test.

“Lumos has built a strong foundation over the past few years, and this funding will enable us to accelerate our growth plan,” said Sam Lanyon, executive chair of Lumos Diagnostics. “We’re delighted that investors recognize how unique Lumos is with its suite of rapid diagnostic digital solutions coupled with high-impact and globally relevant proprietary products.”

Blackpeak Capital acted as financial advisor to Lumos and joint lead manager alongside Canaccord Genuity.

And in Spain, Medlumics, which has developed a RF irrigated ablation catheter system that merges photonics and miniaturised optics to guide device placement and directly assess the ablation lesions in real time, has closed €14m (US$16.6m) Series E funding.

The round was co-led by Asabys Partners (through the fund Sabadell Asabys Health Innovation Investments), VI Partners and CDTI Innvierte, with the participation from historical investors Andera Partners, Caixa Capital Risc and Innogest Capital.

The financing will allow Medlumics to complete the preclinical development of its technology and obtain first in human clinical data.