Capital for Enterprise Aspire Fund announces deal with Altacor
Wednesday, 12 August. Capital for Enterprise Ltd (CfEL) has made an investment of £400,000 from the £12.5m Aspire Fund into Altacor, a leading Ophthalmology development and marketing company.
The Aspire Fund’s £400,000 of equity funding completes a £1,000,000 funding round, alongside Esperante and Beringea, in order to ensure Altacor has access to fresh capital and can sustain its pharmaceutical development, formulation and marketing activities. Cambridge based, speciality pharmaceutical development company Altacor, has a pipeline of ocular anti infective and glaucoma products, and markets the Clinitas range in the UK and Ireland.
Founded in 2005 by Dr. Fran Crawford, who is experienced in pharmaceutical development and commercialisation, and industrial pharmacist David Alcraft; with support from serial bio-technology entrepreneur Andy Richards; Altacor is using its drug development skills and in depth market knowledge to build a portfolio of high quality, differentiated prescription medicines that set new standards in the sector. Other investors in this round are Netherlands based healthcare specialists Esperante and Beringea’s ProVen Health VCT.
Established in November 2008, the £12.5m Aspire Fund targets support for women-led businesses with an objective to increase the number of successful female entrepreneurs within the UK, ensuring that those with real potential to succeed are not held back through a lack of growth capital. The Fund is able to make investments of between £100k and £1m, providing up to 50% of capital in a funding round alongside other private investors. The Aspire Fund is managed by Capital for Enterprise on behalf of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).
Commenting on this investment for the Aspire Fund, Ken Cooper, MD Equity for CfEL, said:“This represents another high quality investment by the Aspire Fund and an excellent opportunity to back an innovative pharmaceutical development business with high growth potential .” Fran Crawford, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Altacor, said: “I am delighted that Aspire and our other investors have participated in this funding round and expect that this will be a springboard to broadening our international presence through licensing and development partnerships. In addition we intend to support the marketing of Clinitas products in the UK and Ireland.”
Alongside the Aspire Fund CfEL also manage the £15m Capital for Enterprise Co-Investment fund (the Co-Fund), which is also able available to invest up to 50% of capital in funding rounds of between £200,000 and £2million alongside other established fund managers into SMEs. The Co-Fund is making new investments over the next 9 months with a focus on fundamentally sound businesses with existing cash flows and genuine growth potential but which are currently unable to access the funding they need. Investors currently engaged with businesses that might benefit from a co-investment from either the Aspire Fund or the Co-Fund are encouraged to contact CfEL.
Notes to editors: For further information on the Aspire Fund, this specific investment or Capital for Enterprise Ltd please contact: Sam Hardy+44 (0) 20 7149 3707+44 (0) 777 1780 946 sam.hardy@champollion.co.uk