Belfast health tech firm reveals expansion plans after securing £3.25m in funding
The round was led by a £1.5m investment from Whiterock's Growth Capital Fund, along with £1.25m from the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland's equity fund, £0.3m from Angel CoFund and £0.2m from Co Fund NI.
Cumulus's NeuLogiq Platform helps biopharma partners and collaborators to advance the discovery and development of new therapies for neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative conditions.
It uses a headset and tablet-based assessments to measure brain function across areas like cognition, mood, and language.
It enables data to be collected more easily, including while patients are at home, which it said was useful for disorders such as Alzheimer's, where clinical testing can be difficult.
Cumulus is headquartered in Belfast at Catalyst in the Titanic Quarter, where most of its 31 employees are based, with a second location in Dublin. The firm said the funding will be used to invest in marketing and recruit key staff such as a head of business to business marketing and sales operations, and a vice president of business development.
Chief executive Tina Sampath said many clinical neuroscience studies were measured in pen and paper assessments which lacked objected data about brain function.
'Biopharma companies need objective data to effectively establish baseline information about whether a drug is engaging with the region of the brain that a particular drug is targeting, whether a drug is effective, and informing which cohort of patients may benefit the most from a particular drug.'
She said Cumulus was well-placed to capitalise on opportunities in neuroscience clinical research.
Whiterock's Growth Capital Fund makes investments of between £1m and £5m for minority shareholdings in growth and scaling companies in Northern Ireland.
David McCurley, investment director at Whiterock, said: 'We are excited to have led this investment round to help fuel the next phase of growth for Cumulus with an equity investment from Whiterock's Growth Capital Fund.
'We look forward to partnering with Tina and the executive team as they deploy their groundbreaking technology and data analytics tools into projects alongside some of the world's leading pharma and biotech companies'.
The £70m Investment Fund for Northern Ireland (IFNI) was launched by The British Business Bank to offer commercial finance including debt finance and equity investment. The equity fund is run by Clarendon Fund Managers.
Whiterock also manages the debt fund, offering loans of £25,000 up to £2m, while Clarendon Fund Managers provide equity stakes in smaller businesses up to £5m.
Brian Cummings, investment director at Clarendon Fund Managers, said: 'Clarendon is proud to continue our support of Cumulus Neuroscience through the IFNI Fund.
'The company's world-class technology holds immense potential to transform how neurological and psychiatric conditions are understood, monitored, and treated. In particular, Cumulus' work promises to revolutionise the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and depression - conditions of growing global significance as the population ages.'
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