A listed radiation tech firm which is to run COVID-19 detection pilots in airports and hospitals is to raise £13 million.
Kromek Group, a worldwide supplier of detection technology focusing on the medical, security screening and nuclear markets, is to raise £10m through a firm placing and directors’ subscription while a proposed open offer will raise up to £3m.
The funding is to come from new and existing institutional investors in the company, which is headquartered in County Durham, has a neutron R&D centre in Huddersfield and bases in the US.
Kromek’s technology can improve patient outcomes from cancer surgery, having commenced development, in partnership with Adaptix Ltd and the University of Manchester, of a new system that will distinguish between healthy and non-healthy tissue, enabling surgeons to confidently remove the minimum amount of healthy tissue and reducing the risks of multiple surgeries and of the cancer spreading.
Its platform is also widely deployed as a networked solution to protect cities, buildings or critical infrastructure against the security threat of nuclear ‘dirty bombs’. To date, over 10,000 detectors have been shipped with in excess of 2.5 billion recorded data points being acquired.
The group also recently announced that it has commenced a £1.25m programme, funded by Innovate UK, to develop and pilot a system focused on the detection of COVID-19. It expects airport and hospital pilots to commence by the end of this financial year, with commercial deployments in 2021/22 if these are a success.
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“This investment will help us with our next phase of growth and to become cash flow positive and achieve operational profitability,” said chairman Rakesh Sharma OBE.
“These funds in the short term will enable us to accelerate the commercialisation of our biological threat detection technology as well as the delivery of our nuclear detection and medical imaging pipeline.
“As such, the board recommends all shareholders to vote in favour of the proposals, which will allow us to capitalise on the substantial opportunities with which we are presented.”
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