Metabolomic Diagnostics, a UCC spinout, has gone back to the well a year after raising €750,000 for its novel blood test for pregnant women.

In December 2013 the company raised €500,000 from Sean O'Sullivan and Bill Lao's SOS Ventures and €125,000 each from Enterprise Ireland and AIB Seed Capital Fund, which seems to have a symbiotic relationship with the state agency.

Recent filings show that in December 2014 the three investors coughed up the same amounts again, in the same proportion.

CEO Charles Garvey, formerly of Horizon Technology, and fellow directors and shareholders Paul Hands and Diarmuid Cahalane have invested €75,000 between them.

The company had accumulated losses of €261,000 at the end of 2013, when there was €748,000 cash in the balance sheet after the first fundraising.

In Association with

Frank Walsh of Enterprise Equity (left), Katy Hyland and Charles Garvey

Metabolomic Diagnostics is aiming to develop a blood test for pregnant women that will predict with a high degree of accuracy the risk that a woman will develop pre-eclampsia later in their pregnancy.

It is estimated that globally the disease claims the lives of between 70,000 and 80,000 women every year, and that 500,000 infants die annually as a direct result of the condition.

Currently there is no cost effective or reliable screening test for pre-eclampsia, so Metabolomic is aiming for a medical break-through of note. Keeping a watching eye on developments in The Wellcome Trust, which has a small investment. Garvey previously ran Horizon Technology Group with Samir Naji until it was sold to Avnet in 2009.