Nottingham-based health tech company NuVision has scooped £1.1m in funding for its wound dressing and contact lenses that use the inner layer of the placenta to heal eye injuries.
Healthcare providers including the NHS use NuVision’s wound dressing to support the recovery of ophthalmic conditions and soft tissue damage in the eye.
Patients can also use the startup’s contact lens variant to avoid surgery if used earlier in treatment.
The wound dressing and contact lens use amniotic membrane, the innermost layer of the placenta, which surrounds babies in the womb before they are born. Amniotic membrane is used in regenerative medicine because it is a biocompatible ‘scaffold’ for grafts or dressing.
NuVision’s technology is based on research carried out by Dr Andy Hopkinson at the University of Nottingham.
Hannah Tapsell, investment manager at Mercia Asset Management, said: “Amniotic membrane has been used in healing for almost a century. NuVision’s unique cutting-edge biotherapy harnesses the benefits but in a format that makes it far more powerful and effective.
NuVision attracted investment from the MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund managed by Mercia, Mercia’s EIS funds, Pioneer Group, the University of Nottingham and private investors.
It comes ahead of a planned Series A in the next year and brings the startup’s total funding to more than £5m.
“NuVision is the perfect example of how a university spin-out backed by investment can thrive to create a growing and sustainable business. We encourage other SMEs with similar business plans in the region to seek funding from the MEIF to scale up,” said Mark Wilcockson, senior manager at British Business Bank.
NuVision will spend the funds on progressing its wound dressing and contact lens products.
Mercia this week has also invested in Swansea biotech startup CanSense.
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