It has been a busy time for us here at SPARK Impact as we recently made our 101st transaction via the North West Fund for Biomedical into up and coming healthcare companies.

Since the start of December, we have committed a further £1.4m in follow on funding to existing portfolio companies. We have also invested more than £300,000 into pioneering and high growth new companies developing innovative services and technologies.

With offices at Liverpool Science Park and BioHub at Alderley Park, we have now invested more than £24.5m of our £30m allocation.

Read more 

With a £42m life-sciences investment fund set to be launched this year and pledges from Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne to make the North West a global centre for science and innovation, much is being promised in this sector.

SPARK Impact’s investment director, Dr Andy Round discusses investment in life sciences and what needs to be done to support growing firms beyond the early stages.

"As an Investment Director at SPARK Impact, I can see the positive effect which funding of this nature has had. We have invested £24.5m of the North West Fund for Biomedical to date in numerous successful innovations spanning diagnostics, medical technologies service companies and drug discovery including anti-infectives to name just a few."

Read the full article on BDaily here

A SPARK Impact investee company which has developed an innovative solution to reduce stretch marks in pregnant women has officially launched its product in front of a national audience.

Stuff of Life Ltd has developed the ‘Secret Saviours’ technology for expectant mums which includes a stretch mark support band which is worn during the day over the pregnancy bump and day gel and night cream.

The product was unveiled in the Daily Mail and is the first clinically proven preventative product to reduce the incidence of stretch marks during pregnancy, which affects 70 to 90 per cent of pregnant women globally.

Read more 

SPARK Impact has expanded in the North West region with the launch of a second office at BioHub at Alderley Park, Cheshire.

The BioHub is situated at Alderley Park one of the AstraZeneca sites.  The site having being purchased by Bruntwood is looking to become the leading bioscience incubator in Europe.

SPARK will join over 68 companies that are already based at the centre including a number of emerging pharmaceutical and life science companies.

Read more 

Here we take a closer look at one of SPARK's case study companies, Zilico Limited.

Manchester headquartered Zilico has thrived since receiving over £1m equity investment from The North West Fund for Biomedical, managed by SPARK Impact.

Read the case study here