Crescent Capital Backs Innovative Biomed Company i-Path Diagnostics

Northern Ireland’s largest venture capital investment firm, Crescent Capital, has provided funding to support the expansion of i-Path Diagnostics, a pioneer in the use of digital techniques in the field of pathology.

In a revolutionary development, i-Path’s whole-slide digital scanning technology replaces conventional microscopy, alloweing enormous medical images to be stored and viewed online simultaneously anywhere in the world.

The company, which was spun out of Queen’s University Belfast in 2005 under the leadership of Professor Peter Hamilton, has also developed a growing portfolio of owned content which enables it to offer a range of tailored solutions in the fields of academia and professional cometency training.

Hal Wilson, Investment Manager of Crescent Capital said: “We are delighted to be backing i-Path on the next stage of its development alongside existing investors QUBIS Ltd and the University Challenge Fund.

“The migration of pathology into the digital world is a stronger driver to the increasing uptake of i-Path’s leading solutions and we believe that with the introduction of commerically proven leadership into the buisiness that the future is promising.”

Participating in the funding round and assuming the role of i-Path’s chief executive is Stuart Harvey, who co-founded Harco Technology in 1997 and led the company’s growth in London and Belfast.

By 2007, when it was acquired by US-based Wombat Financial Software, Harco had attracted 40 major investment banks as clients with installations in over 80 trading floors worldwide. The following year, both were sold to the New York Stock Exchange in Ireland’s largest financial services acquisition.

Commenting on i-Path Diagnostic, Stuart said: “This is a unique company possessing a talented team, a leading product and loyal customers, some of whom are the most influential in their sectors. I’mthrilled to have the opportunity to help the company build on the progress achieved to date.”

Crescent Capital, which is interested in investing between £250,000 and 2.25m in a range of sectors and stages, is NI’s largest venture capital firm with £36.5m under management.

The fund has a strong history, built over 14 years in the market, of investing in and supporting some of the region’s leading technology businesses, including Andor Technology, APT,Lagan Technologies and NiSoft.