Business angel network London Business Angels has completed a £1.19m investment into Oxford-based med tech company Eykona Technologies. The investment marks the first investment made by the new LBA Roundtable EIS Fund.

Eykona is developing and will commercialise hand-held imaging devices for medical markets. The company’s first product will meet a significant and recognised need to objectively measure hard-to-heal wounds. The NHS spends 3% of its total budget managing patients with these types of wounds, and objective assessment of wound progress is important to improve outcomes and reduce costs. Eykona’s products will use patented 3D imaging technology developed at the University of Oxford. The first product, consisting of proprietary software and a purpose-designed camera, will be launched in Europe and the US next year.

The investment round was led by MTI through the UMIP Premier Fund (UPF) alongside further investment from existing and new shareholders including the London Business Angels Roundtable EIS Fund and a further three LBA investors. Technikos LLP remains the largest shareholder. The company presented to the London Business Angels investors in March 2010.

Anthony Clarke, the managing director of LBA, said: “We are delighted that Eykona has closed its funding round with the support of LBA investors, and particularly including investment from our innovative Roundtable EIS Approved Fund, enabling our investors to bring added value to this deal.”

Paul Murphy, the chief executive of Eykona, said: “We are at an exciting stage with Eykona; we have great clinical support, a strong health economic rationale and huge interest from the wound care community. Allowing clinicians to measure wounds, accurately and repeatably, will help improve outcomes, reduce costs and ensure that patients with serious wounds are treated optimally. The investment will allow the team to progress its innovative 3D wound imaging system to launch and beyond.”

The London Business Angels EIS Round Table Fund is the first of its kind in the UK. This EIS approved fund, which launched in March 2010, offers an innovative approach for leveraging angel investments through match funding as a cornerstone investor, as well as offering relevant tax benefits to investors.