Spin-out company to change the face of scientific analysis
Posted on 18 August 2005
Paraytec Ltd, the University-backed spin-out company they established to develop and market the technology, has secured £170,000 from Viking Fund and private investors in the Viking Club.
The company will produce instruments that use miniaturised ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorbance detectors providing significantly more sensitive and accurate analysis of chemical and biological samples than existing equipment. Their enhanced sensitivity and a quicker analytical process enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies developing new drugs to screen samples more efficiently.
Thanks to the backing from Viking Fund and Viking Club, a range of instruments - a miniature capillary UV detector, a capillary spectrophotometer and a multiplexed capillary spectrophotometer with robot handling - should go into production next year helping the company to win a share of the $3 billion molecular spectroscopy market.
In the last two years, Paraytec has benefited from a range of funding support to help to bring the technology to this point. This includes £25,000 from the University of York for prototype development, £25,500 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's (EPSRC) Follow-On Fund, and £10,000 from the York Innovation Fund, as well as specialist business support and advice from Science City York.
UV absorbance detection is a laboratory technique widely employed to characterise and determine the levels of substances which dissolve in water and other liquids, with light absorbed at different wavelengths in the ultra-violet region indicating different compounds. The new instruments use a capillary the width of a human hair as a sample vessel, so they require sample volumes 1,000 times less than existing equipment.
We have...had tremendous support from the University of York and Science City York to help turn our academic research into a very attractive business proposition
Professor David Goodall
The managing director of Viking Fund, Andrew Burton, said: "Paraytec has many of the ingredients we look for in an early growth investment - a high class team, first rate technology, strong IP and significant market potential for its products."
The instruments were devised by analytical scientists Professor David Goodall and Dr Ed Bergstrom, from the University of York's Department of Chemistry, together with Professor of Electronic Systems at the University of Sheffield Nigel Allinson, and independent designer Dr Kevin Moon.
Professor Goodall, who is Paraytec's technical director, said: "We are enormously grateful for the support we have received from Viking Fund and Viking Club. It will enable the company to move forward smoothly to production of this exciting technology.
"We have also had tremendous support from the University of York and Science City York to help turn our academic research into a very attractive business proposition. Our success demonstrates the benefits of the University and the City working in partnership."
Notes to editors:
- The Department of Chemistry at the University of York has an excellent reputation for teaching and research. In the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise the department was awarded a 5 rating. It is led by Royal Society of Chemistry prize-winners in all three branches of physical, organic and inorganic chemistry. It has 46 full-time members of staff, more than 380 undergraduate students, 150 graduates and 90 research fellows.
- Paraytec is a scientific instrument company based on patented analytical detection technology that represents a significant advance over existing instruments. The company was established in January 2005 as a spin-out from the University of York. Paraytec's mission is to develop array based parallel technologies to enable highly sensitive, quantitative and high-speed analysis of chemical and biological samples.
- The £5m Viking Fund is a Yorkshire-wide, co-investment venture capital fund set up with UK government capital, under the DTI/Small Business Service's Early Growth Fund. It provides early-stage risk capital to match - on the same terms - that invested by business angels or other private sector investors. By the beginning of March 2005 the Fund, together with the Viking Club, had invested a total of £540,000 in early stage, Yorkshire-based, technology related businesses. More information at www.vikingfund.co.uk.
- The Viking Club is an exclusive investment club for high net worth individuals interested in making investments of between £5,000 and £200,000 in early stage businesses with a technology bias and potential for high growth. It provides a range of unique benefits with membership restricted to a maximum of 30 investors. The Viking Club operates in parallel with a £5m professionally-managed venture capital fund, the Viking Fund, specialising in early stage businesses in the Yorkshire and Humber region. The Fund intends to make from 40 to 80 investments between 2004 and 2009, all offered as co-investment opportunities to Viking Club members.
- Science City York is a partnership between City of York Council and the University of York. It was established in 1998 with the objective of growing York as an internationally recognised science and technology base. Its mission is to create business and employment opportunities for local people through science and technology exploitation. Science City York has a major track record of success with more than 240 science technology and creative organisations already based in York and creating more than 2600 jobs and 40 companies in its first six years. York was recognised as one of Britain's Science Cities in Chancellor Gordon Brown's 2005 Budget statement along with Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol, Nottingham and Birmingham. This confirmed the Government's continued investment in science and technology to drive forward the UK's position in the global economy. Further information from: www.sciencecityyork.org.uk
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