Causeway secures €1.8m in investment for nanosensor platform

Causeway Sensors, a Belfast-based diagnostics company that has developed nano-sized sensing chips that can be used to detect early-stage cancer and other diseases, has secured a further €1.8 million in investment.

The company, a spin-out from Queen's University Belfast, was founded by Robert Pollard, Robert Bowman and John Nelson in 2016.

The investment comprises €1.5 million from the Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Growth Fund NI and a further €300,000 from QUBIS. Both previously backed Causeway in a €1.8 million funding round two years after it was founded.

The funding comes in addition to a £3.3 million (€3.9 million) grant the company received as part of the Smart Nano NI consortium. This is a grouping led by Seagate that last year secured £42 million from the British government agency UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to develop new technology for medical devices, communication and data storage.

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Nanosensor platform

Causeway is developing what it believes may be the world’s first nanosensor platform, which can be integrated directly into a bioreactor to quickly unlock critical data linked to new drug candidates. This should ensure they can be brought to market earlier.

In tandem with the new investment, Dr Pollard is to become president of the company with Antony Murphy replacing him as chief executive. Deirdre Frances is also joining Causeway as finance director.

“This investment, along with the competitive grant-funding we were awarded from UKRI, will put Causeway in a strong position to fully validate our first product with blue-chip pharmaceutical companies before entering the bioproduction market,” said Mr Murphy.

The Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Growth Fund (NI), which aims to accelerate growth at high potential start-up businesses in the North, was also behind a £500,000 investment in Causeway in 2016.