SPARK Impact has backed cancer diagnostic business Zilico through The North West Fund for Biomedical.

Zilico, which is a spin-out fro the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is developing a system to provide what it calls ‘real time’ results’ for women undergoing both the Pap smear and LBC cervical cancer tests.

Cervical cancer affects a reported 500,000 women worldwide each year, Zilico says, and is responsible for 300,000 deaths.

The company’s new technology removes ‘several weeks’ of waiting for a diagnosis and works by way of a portable hand-held device, a single use disposable sleeve and docking station.

It measures the resistivity of cells and therefore detects changes as cells progress from normal to precancerous and then to cancerous.

The £750,000 funding follows on from the £1 million Zilico received back in June 2012 from both SPARK Impact and Fusion IP. That capital was to be used to complete the manufacture of commercial devices and to establish its route to market for EU and other territories.

Zilico’s follow up capital will also be used to pursue the same agenda, ahead of its launch plan for a product launch next year.

Sameer Zothari, chief executive of Zilico, comments, ‘I welcome the ongoing support of the existing shareholders and I am also pleased to bring in new investors.

‘This investment well significantly help with our launch plans of ZedScan in 2013.’

In October, SPARK Impact oversaw the 25th investment made by The North West Fund for Biomedical since its launch in February 2011 when BiOxyDyn, a Manchester-based MRI business, secured £1.2 million.

The North West Fund is financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank.