Higgs LLP’s Tech & High Growth team recently advised a Nottingham medical company as it raised £2.4m to further develop a blood test that could revolutionise management of tuberculosis (TB).
The funding for PBD Biotech came from a consortium led by Mercia and Foresight Group, both investing from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, alongside the University of Nottingham and private investors.
The deal included conversion of Future Fund loan arrangements.
Richard Freeman, Corporate Lawyer who assisted on the deal from the Higgs team, said: “The Future Fund was a Government-backed loan scheme which offered loans of between £125,000 and £5m to companies that relied on equity investment during the pandemic, provided the loan was matched by loans from private investors.
“Recently our Tech & High Growth team has seen a number of loans taken from the Future Fund be triggered for conversion, as was the case here with the funding for PBD Biotech.
“The Future Fund scheme closed to new applicants on 31 January 2021, meaning that conversions are becoming increasingly more common as the companies who took part in the scheme are beginning to look to raise further investment and triggering conversion.
“This can be an intricate exercise as the Future Fund will need to agree to the company’s share capital table, review the relevant transaction documents that have triggered the anticipated conversion and will expect that certain provisions are inserted into the documents to protect their investment.
“The team at Higgs is delighted to share its expertise and achieve a positive outcome for all.”
Clinical trials at the University of Leicester have shown PBD Biotech's Actiphage® test is able to diagnose human TB before the patient develops symptoms.
By enabling rapid screening of a population, it offers a breakthrough in disease prevention and treatment. Further trials of Actiphage are currently running in the UK, South Africa and Zambia.
Led by Jamie Partington, the Higgs’s tech and high growth team works closely with investment funds, founders and management, teams, guiding them through investment rounds from start up, through to scale up and exit.
