The funding sees MTI and Spark Impact invest £950,000 and £800,000 respectively.

Spark Impact invested from the £25 million North West Fund for Biomedical, whilst MTI invested from the £32 million UMIP Premier Fund. Both funds are directed at supporting medical research.

Dr Jim McNairney, CEO of Ai2, says: ‘I am very pleased and excited that Ai2 has been able to attract and secure this significant investment of £1.75m from two separate funds in an extremely difficult fundraising climate for biomedical companies.’

Ai2, a spin-out medical research business from the University of Manchester, specialises in developing products which can prevent surface infections from medical devices.

Senior investment director at SPARK Impact, Dr Penny Attridge says: ‘It’s great to be able to invest alongside the likes of MTI, a world class investor in this field, in a quality company like Ai2, developing products in this very exciting and valuable sector.’

Ai2 is the twelfth investment for the North West Fund for Biomedical and the fund’s second largest investment.

Dr Attridge adds: ‘The Fund for biomedical continues to see a significant number of applications of excellent opportunities from both early-stage and more mature companies and is looking to continue to invest heavily in 2012.’