A company developing what is thought to be the world’s first portable fingerprint-based drug screening system has secured £3m funding.
Provided by UK and US investors, Cambridge-based Intelligent Fingerprinting will use the cash to support early commercialisation.
It will then launch a number of pilot programmes.
Chairman Philip Hand said he expects 2017 to be an important year, as the firm transitions ‘from running successful pilot projects’ to bringing revolutionary technology to the broader market.
He hopes to operate in three sectors – criminal justice, workplace testing and the medical market, including drug rehabilitation centres and clinics.
Hand added: “The first product of its kind in the world, our mobile drug screening system is easy- to-use, non-invasive and works in minutes by analysing sweat from a fingerprint.
“This latest investment will enable the acceleration of activities across the business, including both our sales and marketing programmes as well as our ongoing FDA approval activities in the US.”
Intelligent Fingerprinting technology consists of single-use cartridges and dedicated portable readers.
According to the business, 60 per cent of the $2.7bn drug-testing market is based in the UK, access to the US market will be driven by Smartox, Intelligent Fingerprinting’s key distributor.
Prior to the latest announcement, the company has raised £8.23m of private investment in the past five years.