Biotech company Q Chip has received £1 million in a funding round led by cleantech venture investor Curzon Park Capital.

The company, whose technology enables biological products to be packaged within extremely small “microspheres”, will use the funding to complete research on two products. A further £5 million fundraising is planned for next year to take them through pre-clinical development and into collaboration with larger partners.

Sam Richardson, director of Curzon Park Capital which invested in Q Chip alongside Finance Wales, says that pressure on the pharmaceutical industry to cut costs will benefit the early-stage company.

Adds Richardson, ‘The end of the era of the multi-billion dollar “blockbuster” and increased competition as patents expire is forcing drug companies into initiatives to develop cheaper new therapies and to slash the amount of expensive raw material used.’

The investment brings total funding received by Cardiff University spin-out Q Chip to more than £5 million.