Participated · Equity · Feb 2018

Zilico is a Manchester-based developer of ZedScan™, a cervical cancer diagnostic system built on the company’s patented Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) technology. ZedScan is currently in routine use across a number of UK hospitals and has supported service evaluations in France, the Netherlands, Poland and Finland. The EIS platform is positioned as applicable to a wide range of neoplastic conditions, forming the core of Zilico’s product portfolio. The company intends to use newly raised funds to continue global expansion of ZedScan across the UK, Europe and China and to take the product through regulatory trials in the US. Following the deal, partner MaxHealth Medicine Group will lead ZedScan’s registration with the Chinese Food & Drug Administration. Zilico is led by CEO Sameer Kothari and will deploy the financing to support expansion and regulatory activities. Zilico develops a portable, hand-held system that provides near real-time results for women undergoing Pap smear and LBC tests, using a single-use disposable sleeve and docking station. The technology, electrical impedance spectroscopy, measures cell resistivity to detect progression from normal to precancerous and cancerous states. The company plans to complete manufacture of commercial devices and use the recent funding to expand into the EU and other territories. Zilico was founded in 2006 as a spin-out from the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is based in Sheffield, UK. The company positions its first application within the referral population to help reduce biopsies, while a second application under development targets screening to reduce subjectivity and time with current tests. It recently received a £985K funding injection to support these commercial and expansion plans.