Cambridge Raman Imaging (CRI) has raised £1.1 mln through an equity funding round from existing and new investors, including major shareholder Frontier IP.
Frontier invested £334,000 in the round, comprising a £95,000 loan conversion with the remainder in cash, and now holds a 26.8% equity stake in CRI.
CRI was valued at £6.1mln post the new money compared to £1.5mln at the time of its previous fundraise (£250,000) in July 2020.
Proceeds from the funding round will accelerate the commercialisation of CRI's high-speed Raman imaging technology and AI-supported diagnostics, particularly the development of a first commercial prototype of a Raman imaging microscope.
Motic, a maker of medical imaging devices, is partnering with CRI on this project.
CRI’s technology uses graphene-based ultra-fast fibre lasers to generate hyperspatial digital images of patient tissue which are analysed by the AI.
Matteo Negro, CRI’s CEO, said: "The technology being developed by Cambridge Raman Imaging has the potential to transform diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as cancer, and open the way for more personalised treatments too.
"This funding will provide the support needed to develop our prototype imaging system and the artificial intelligence to analyse the images generated."
Neil Crabb, Frontier IP’s CEO, added: "We are very encouraged by the progress Cambridge Raman Imaging has made to date.”