GM&C Life Sciences Fund
Alderley Park, Alderley Edge, Cheshire, SK10 4TG, United Kingdom
Overview
The GM&C Life Sciences Fund is a seed and early stage venture capital fund targeting life sciences businesses located in the Greater Manchester and Cheshire & Warrington region. The Fund is managed by Catapult Venture Managers ("Catapult Ventures"). The Fund is based at Alderley Park, which is well recognised as a site of national importance, being the largest life sciences campus of its kind in the UK with more than 500,000 sq. ft. of top-end laboratory and related space and facilities. Until recently, the Park was the R&D headquarters for AstraZeneca. Since 2002, Catapult Ventures has backed a significant number of companies across a broad range of life sciences, including therapeutics (such as Abzena and Oxford BioTherapeutics), medical devices (such as Monica Healthcare and Probe Scientific), contract research organisations (such as R5 Pharmaceuticals and FDAS), diagnostics developers (such as Lumora and Biofortuna), as well as developers of technology used in healthcare applications (such as Oxford Cryosystems and Accutronics). The Fund is the result of a collaboration between Cheshire and Warrington Enterprise Partnership, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Cheshire East Council, and Manchester Science Partnerships.
- Total investments
- 3
- Lead investments
- 1
- Investments · 12mo
- 1
- Active investors
- 7
Sector focus
- Biotechnology
- Finance
- Financial Services
- Venture Capital
Investment portfolio
- Infex Therapeutics
Participated · Equity · May 2026
Infex Therapeutics develops first-in-class drug candidates to address antimicrobial resistance by acquiring and in-licensing early-stage assets and advancing them toward clinical proof of concept. Its lead candidate, RESP-X, has completed a Phase IIa trial targeting Pseudomonas aeruginosa in respiratory patients. The company is also advancing the MET-X resistance-bypass program through a strategic clinical development partnership with Venus Remedies Ltd in India and is progressing preclinical BamA inhibitor programs. Infex is led by CEO Dr. Peter Jackson and chaired by Jon Moulton. The firm is based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, UK and plans to use recent funding to advance these clinical and preclinical programs.
- Pencil Biosciences
Participated · Seed · Sep 2023
Pencil Biosciences develops a proprietary, modular gene editing and modulation platform that is non‑CRISPR in composition and significantly smaller than Cas‑based technologies. The company intends to deepen and widen the capabilities of its platform to catalyse new therapeutic options for patients with rare diseases and cancer. Pencil describes its technology as modular in design and focused on editing and modulation applications across a range of uses. The startup is led by CEO Dr. Amanda Smith, with primary founder and CTO Dr. Rajik Ibrahim and Chair Dr. Jon Moore. Founded in 2019, the company is pursuing further development of its platform using newly raised funds. Financial operating metrics were not disclosed in the article.
- Blueberry Therapeutics
Led · Equity · May 2016
Blueberry Therapeutics is a drug discovery and development company based in Alderley Park, UK, focused on innovative nanomedicines for difficult-to-treat skin and nail infections. It uses nano-formulation technology to develop high-value medicines intended to reduce dose and improve drug delivery to address efficacy, tolerability and safety concerns. The company combines expert in-house resources with selected outsource partners and collaborators to advance projects from preclinical research to de-risked human clinical proof of concept and toward the market. Blueberry plans to use the Series B funds to develop BB2603 for onychomycosis and tinea pedis and to progress earlier-stage acne and atopic dermatitis programmes. The company has entered a licensing deal with CMS Medical Limited granting CMS rights to develop and commercialise BB2603 in defined Asian territories in return for an upfront payment, regulatory milestone payments and commercial sales–based performance payments. Blueberry retains rest-of-world rights to BB2603 and all pipeline products, and Dr. Huaizheng Peng of CMS joined the company's board in conjunction with the funding. Blueberry Therapeutics is an Alderley Edge, UK-based developer of topical fungal infection therapies targeting onychomycosis (fungal nail infection) and associated tinea pedis (athlete’s foot). Its lead program is a topical antifungal intended for those indications. The company raised £3M in funding led by the GM&C Life Sciences Fund, with participation from InClin Investments and private investors. Blueberry will use the proceeds to advance its lead topical antifungal into human clinical trials. The management team includes Dr. John Ridden (Chief Executive Officer), Dr Mike Davies (Chief Medical Officer) and Dr. David Cook (Chief Scientific Officer).