GBDbio Raises $1.25 Million in Series A Funding
Temple, TX (PRWEB) March 20, 2015 -- GBDbio, an innovative biotechnology company developing a true Point-of-Care test for Tuberculosis, announced that it has raised $1.25 million in a Series A round of funding led by Truestone Impact Fund (London, UK) with follow-on investments from Sovereign’s Capital, LP (Durham, NC) and Research Valley Funds (College Station, TX), bringing the company’s total funding to approximately $6.5 million. GBDbio will leverage the new round of funding to complete an on-going feasibility trial in Cape Town, South Africa as well as continue development of its TB REaD™ POC diagnostic kit and reader platform.
Dr. Kim Tan, Chairman – Truestone Impact, has joined GBDbio as a Special Advisor to Management. Said Michael T. Norman, CEO of GBDbio, “Dr. Tan’s record as a biotechnologist, diagnostics entrepreneur and investor, as well as his pathbreaking work on how business can be utilized as a tool to alleviate poverty around the world, makes him an ideal advisor for our company as we complete our current feasibility trial and move towards bringing our first product to the market.”
GBDbio is focused on delivering diagnostic assays that are deployable in markets that suffer from severe constraints and high disease burden. “We are driven to improve lives through the provision of a diagnostic platform that can be implemented in a cost effective way and work well given the challenges often encountered in the majority of world countries with healthcare constraints,” said Norman. “We call this ‘constraint based innovation’--it is our motivating ethos. For TB, this is a major concern as sample handling and lack of trained personnel and infrastructure limit the usefulness of current TB diagnostic processes around the world.”
“We are so excited to be investing in this breakthrough approach,” said Neil Sandy, CEO of Truestone Impact Fund. “Diagnosing TB at a low price point is a real challenge and we are delighted to be supporting the GBDbio team.”
About GBDbio
GBDbio is an early stage biotechnology company whose mission is to develop, manufacture and distribute diagnostics that address huge needs in the global infectious disease market. The company’s first product in development for Tuberculosis, called the TB REaD™ POC assay, utilizes a ground-breaking biophotonic detection platform called Reporter Enzyme Fluorescence developed by researchers at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and Stanford University. This technology and the TB REaD™ POC assay have been developed with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics. The company has offices in Temple, Texas and Daresbury, England. For more information, please visit http://www.gbdbio.com, or contact Michael T. Norman at mnorman(at)gbdbio(dot)com.
About Truestone
Truestone Impact Investment Management is a London based investment manager which has become one of the most successful innovators in the social impact investment market. It offers investors both fund-based solutions and direct investment opportunities in businesses delivering measurable social impact.
Focused primarily on impact in frontier markets, the Truestone Impact Fund LP invests in businesses that are solving social and environmental problems in a way which is commercially viable and has the potential to deliver market rate returns to investors. Investments within the fund include microfinance, SME finance, off-grid renewable energy and African agriculture. All impact results are monitored quarterly and published annually following assurance carried out by Deloitte.
The Truestone Impact Fund LP closes for new investment on 30 April 2015.
Please visit http://www.truestoneimpactinvestment.co.uk
Contact:
Neil Sandy, Chief Operating Officer
44 (0)20 7135 2480 or neil.sandy(AT)tiim.co.uk
Michael Norman, GBDbio, http://www.gbdbio.com, +1 254-624-5747, [email protected]
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