A Welsh med-tech firm has received £550,000 worth of funding via SEIS to boost its ground-breaking and pioneering work as the world’s first mainstream and commercial producer of collagen derived from jellyfish.
The company is named Jellagen Pty, and the funding will enable the firm to mass produce and commercialise jellyfish collagen products, which are of huge benefit medically.
The investment has been structured in such a way so as to ensure that the fledgling firm remains SEIS compliant for the six investors. Finance Wales are the lead investors and the angel network Xenos facilitated the deal and ensured compliance at all times despite the hefty level of investment.
The company produces a full range of collagen proteins derived from jellyfish, and has derma care products currently in development. Collagen in itself is used for various medical applications and these range from bone grafts to wound and cartilage repair.
Jellagen also plans to use part of the finance to help bring the products to market and to also strengthen its own business development. Jellagen will also benefit from the expertise and guidance of a partnership with the investors which transcends mere financial investment. Often investors keen on looking at start-ups for investment will select a company due to being enthused by the idea they have.
This has been the case here with David Maas, Manager of Xenos quoted as saying “A six pronged syndicate of extremely experienced investors have put their backing behind Jellagen in the initial SEIS funding round. The company can now benefit from the investor’s experience and expertise as well as their financial investment.”
This particular investment represents an excellent coup for both the credibility of George Osborne – the man who chose to keep the scheme in place for good – and the SEIS in general as more and more attention is drawn to the benefits of the scheme from both entrepreneurial and investor perspectives.