Spotlight Pathology has landed a £125k funding boost from Liverpool-based LYVA Labs’ Health and Life Sciences pre-seed fund.
LYVA Labs was set up with £11M from Liverpool City Region’s Combined Authority as an innovation commercialisation company, and is taking the lead in investing in under-served founders and CEOs. Spotlight is the fourth female-led business LYVA has backed as it seeks to help turn great ideas into high-growth businesses and quality jobs.
The funding will enable Spotlight Pathology to accelerate product development and commercialisation.
Spotlight is developing AI tools to support pathologists in making complex blood cancer diagnoses. There is a global shortage of highly trained pathologists, resulting in significant pressures on the system and on pathologists that can lead to delays in diagnosis. CEO Dr Sam Perona recently joined co-founders Dr Martin Fergie and Prof Richard Byers to lead the business to commercial success.
CEO of LYVA Labs, Lorna Green, chairs Liverpool City Region’s new Female Founder Regional HIGH Growth Board, set up as part of the Lifted Project, a data and ecosystem-led approach to increasing the flow of capital to regional, high growth female founders.
Perona joined Spotlight Pathology as CEO after a successful exit from her own business, Perfectus Biomed, and has joined the board as a member, role model and mentor for other regional female founders.
Perona said: “We are delighted to receive this investment from LYVA labs. The investment process was rapid and straight forward, allowing us to keep a focus on developing the business. This investment will allow us to grow the team and accelerate our ‘Go to Market’ plan.”
Akshay Bhatnagar, Head of Investment, LYVA Labs, added: “LYVA Labs is delighted to back Sam, Martin and Richard in their mission to help reduce the number of people dying from blood cancer by providing the technology to allow more rapid diagnosis which will enable earlier treatment for the condition. We look forward to working with the team and seeing the product come to market over the next 12 months.”
Sci-tech Daresbury-based Spotlight was spun out of the University of Manchester in January 2020 by Dr Martin Fergie and Prof Richard Byers and recently re-located to Daresbury. Its AI tools to streamline the diagnosis process for blood cancer representing an estimated $15b global market opportunity. Spotlight is already in receipt of a £0.9m Innovate UK grant, which has allowed it to build up a significant data bank of blood tissue samples and to recruit Perona as CEO in April 2024.
