Fusion IP’s partner Asalus raises £0.45m from IP Group and Finance Wales

Fusion IP’s (AIM: FIP) portfolio company Asalus Medical Instruments Ltd, launched earlier this year, has successfully raised £0.45m through its first funding round.  Notably, the fundraising also represents the first investment by the IP Group (AIM: IPO) in one of Fusions’ portfolio companies under the agreement between the companies, signed in November 2009.

Fusion’s other investment partner, Finance Wales, also invested in Asalus' funding round, and it is the sixth Fusion company the financier has invested in since signing a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) over two years ago.

The financing will allow Asalus to advance its three new laparoscopic devices through preclinical development. 

Asalus was spun out from Fusion's partnership with Cardiff University, and it is founded on the inventions of Neil Warren, manager of the Wales Institute of Minimal Access Therapy (WIMAT) at University Hospital Wales in Cardiff.

"I am delighted to welcome Finance Wales and IP Group as investors in Asalus”, Fusion IP chief executive David Baynes commented. “Development of all three devices has progressed well and this funding will allow the company to take significant steps forward in both its clinical and regulatory development pathways".

Laparoscopic surgery is performed through small incisions.  The three novel products in development are a smoke and steam clearance device, an access port providing significant benefits over those currently available and a multifunctional device for the atraumatic manipulation of tissues and organs.

"Successfully completing the rigorous due diligence conducted as part of Asalus' funding round validates the commercial potential of our devices”, Asalus director and Fusion Cardiff Portfolio Investment Manager, Dominic Griffiths added.

Asalus plans to seek further funding by the fourth quarter of 2010, which will allow the company to complete development of the devices, after which licensing partners will be sought.

Fusion specialises in university-generated intellectual property.  It has long-term exclusive agreements with the University of Sheffield and Cardiff University, giving it access to a combined R&D (research and development) spend of over £185 million a year. Finance Wales is an independent company, set-up by the Welsh Assembly Government in 2001 to invest in and fund Welsh SME’s (Small and Medium Enterprise).

In November 2009, Fusion signed a co-investment agreement with the IP Group offering it the right to acquire 20% of Fusion’s equity in any new portfolio company formed during the remaining term of its current agreement with the Cardiff and Sheffield universities. This shareholding, which will equate to a 12% stake in the new portfolio company, will be acquired for £0.5 million in cash.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/15137/fusion-ips-partner-asalus-raises-045m-from-ip-group-and-finance-wales-15137.html