The Vaccine Group, one of the companies backed by Frontier IP Group PLC (LON:FIPP), has raised £680,000 in its first equity funding round.
The intellectual property commercialisation company said the fundraising values the University of Plymouth spin-off at £9.5mln, thus giving an assumed value of £1.6mln to Frontier’s 17% stake.
The funds raised will be used by The Vaccine Group to accelerate the development and expand the range of its novel animal vaccine technology.
Targeted diseases currently fall into two broad areas: zoonotic diseases, such as Ebola, bird flu and severe acute respiratory syndromes, that jump from animals to animals, including humans; and diseases, such as African swine fever and bovine tuberculosis, which have an impact on economically important livestock.
"Given the much shorter time to market, vaccines designed to interrupt emergence of zoonotic diseases in animals before they spread to humans is becoming regarded as a quicker and more cost-effective way to protect human health," said Michael Jarvis, the founder and chief scientific officer of The Vaccine Group.
Neil Crabb, the chief executive of Frontier IP, said The Vaccine Group’s technology has “huge potential”.
“The World Health Organisation has repeatedly warned about the pandemic threat from zoonotic diseases. Vaccines also have a critical role to play in protecting people from antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” he said.