A PIONEERING biosciences company has won investment to launch a revolutionary product.
Ruskinn Life Sciences, based at the Sony Technium in Pencoed, has developed a laboratory workstation to improve the success rate of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).
The workstation maintains optimal conditions for fertilisation and embryo development, and clinical trials have shown that use of the workstation increases the success rate of each IVF cycle by more than 30%.
The investment from Finance Wales, a provider of commercial funding to businesses in Wales, will allow Ruskinn to step up its sales and marketing efforts to the nearly 3,000 clinics worldwide offering IVF.
Ruskinn was established in 1993 to target the massive increase in demand for assisted conception and reproductive technologies.
In 2001 it was bought by technology company Biotrace.
In 2006 there was a management buyout of Ruskinn, led by Andrew Skinn and Samir Patel, after US conglomerate 3M took over Biotrace in a £52m buyout.
Biotrace sold its life sciences division for £1m in a deal led by Samir Patel, the group's former head of life sciences.
Mr Skinn, chairman of Ruskinn
Life Sciences, said: "The investment from Finance Wales will ensure that Ruskinn can attain this worthy objective." Nick Sylvester, investment executive at Finance Wales, said: "We are pleased to be able to support an innovative Welsh company.
"Access to appropriate funding is critical to the growth prospects of companies such as Ruskinn." Gambit Corporate Finance advised Ruskinn on the fundraising and Frank Holmes, senior partner, said: "We have worked with Ruskinn for an extended period are delighted that the final piece of funding is now in place."
