18 July 2014 - Spectral Edge announces today the completion of a £300K financing round led by the Iceni Seedcorn Fund and the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund managed by Midven.
Spectral Edge was founded in 2012 as a spin-out from the University of East Anglia to exploit novel image fusion technology developed by Professor Finlayson’s ‘Colour Lab’. Image fusion is a large field and refers to the process of combining many different images -- often using different modalities such as visible light, near infrared, x-rays and thermal imaging -- into a single display image. Applications for image fusion can be found in photography (RGB + near infrared), remote sensing (merging the hundreds of bands from satellite images) and medical imagery (in diffusion tensor imaging).
While Spectral Edge has developed a platform technology, the first target application of the company is to treat colour deficiency as an image fusion problem: fusing all the colours that colour normals see to make a new image which induces a similar perception in those suffering from poorer colour vision. A key component of the Spectral Edge technology is the ability to fuse images that appear much improved to those who suffer from poorer colour vision, whilst at the same time making sure the images remain acceptable for everyone else. Spectral Edge delivers “colour clarity for all.”
This funding will provide working capital to enable Spectral Edge to expand its team, complete the development of its Eyeteq product-line and take it to market.
Commenting on the investment, Mark White, investment director of Midven’s UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund said, “The appeal of this technology to such a large market makes this potentially an exciting investment for UKI2S. Spectral Edge has already shown traction within its intended market and possesses a comprehensive patent portfolio that will allow it to maximise the scope of its technology.”
Dr Robert Swann, chairman of Spectral Edge commented: “Midven and Iceni have excellent records of supporting early stage technology companies and we are delighted to have them on board at this exciting stage in our development.”
About Spectral Edge
Formed in February 2011, Spectral Edge is a spin-out company of the Colour and Vision Group of the School of Computing Sciences at the University of East Anglia in Norwich (United Kingdom).
Spectral Edge technology enhances images and video by using information outside the normal visible spectrum or applying transformations to that within it. Applications range from medical imaging and surveillance all the way to consumer applications such as enhancing camera images and TV pictures.
Website: http://www.spectraledge.co.uk/Pictures & Media Pack: http://spectraledge.co.uk/media-pack
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spectral-edge-ltd/ Twitter: @SpectralEdgeLtd Email: pr@spectraledge.co.uk
About UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund
The UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund is a £24m, early-stage venture capital fund dedicated to kick-starting promising technology companies developed at some of the UK’s largest publicly-funded research facilities, in the rapidly expanding science and technology campuses linked to them and in the field of engineering biology.
Created in 2002, the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund is backed by 10 UK publicly-funded research organisations and the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The Fund, whose portfolio comprises 31 companies, holds investments in some of the UK’s most innovative companies in areas as diverse as novel antibiotics, research into Alzheimer’s disease, “green” chemicals and airport security. The Fund’s impact in over the past decade has been recently validated by independent research showing the Fund has leveraged over £150 million of private investment from just £7 million of its own investment and helped create 172 high value technology-related jobs.
The UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund is managed byMidven, a leading venture capital firm investing in early-stage and established businesses. For more information, please visit www.ukinnovationscienceseedfund.co.uk or follow @Midven on Twitter.
About Iceni Seedcorn Fund
The Iceni Seedcorn Fund was created to help commercialise innovation and technology development derived from the Fund’s partner institution – University of East Anglia, John Innes Centre, The Sainsbury Laboratory, Institute of Food Research and Plant Bioscience Limited. The fund was established in 2002 under the DTI’s university challenge scheme with a total value of £4 million and to date has made awards to 28 projects or companies from the partner institutions. www.icenifund.com
