Launched in February this year, the North West Fund for Biomedical is run by early-stage VC firm Spark Impact and is part of the £185 million evergreen fund provided by the European Investment Bank and European Regional Development Fund.

The fund supplies debt and equity funding to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the North-West of England.

Ian Harrison, chief technical officer and founder at Lancashire-based Alchemy Healthcare, says, ‘The investment will be used to complete various elements of tooling and a modest clinical trial. We hope to have the results soon and raise further investment to continue to grow.’

Alchemy has developed a nasal delivery device to provide a unit dose, needle-free delivery of dry powders into the nasal cavity.

Manchester-based Future Medical Technologies will use the funding to accelerate the development of its HydraCartilage technology and gain regulatory approvals.

The technology uses polymeric hydrogels to mimic human cartilage for use in the treatment of arthritic diseases and focal defects in articulating joints.

The £25 million North West Fund for Biomedical has received more than 100 applications and has made investments in four companies to date.

Dr Penny Attridge, senior investment director at Spark Impact and fund manager, comments, ‘Interest in the North West Fund for Biomedical continues to grow and we are delighted to be able to announce our second set of investments.’