Midven Early Advantage Fund, which has £8 million to invest in ‘helping today’s generation of entrepreneurs become tomorrow’s world beaters’, has backed medical technology company Anaxsys, contributing £125,000 to a £500,000 fundraising round.

The investment allows Staffordshire-based Anaxsys to conduct clinical trials of its first product, a disposable mask connected to an electronic monitor that analyses patients’ breath, alerting medical staff to any abnormalities that could be a sign of disease. Another planned product is a ‘low-cost’ tool for detecting lung cancer.

Anaxsys’s non-executive chairman David George says, ‘Anaxsys proprietary technology has value in a number of different applications and this investment will be crucial in getting the first product to market.’

Midven Early Advantage Fund will focus on early-stage companies in the West Midlands requiring investment of between £25,000 and £400,000.