NPIF Maven leads £2 million investment in Liverpool ChiroChem

NPIF - Maven Equity Finance originally invested £500,000 in 2018 to support the company through its ‘proof of concept’ phase and establish operations in the UK and China, as well as grow its initial team to 12 employees. Today’s transaction will help the business to rapidly scale up and expand its production capacity to service its growing customer base. To date LCC has also previously received equity funding from Deepbridge Capital and Praetura Ventures totalling some £6m since 2015,

Since the company’s founding in 2014, LCC has produced products which provide pharmaceutical companies innovative processes for the research and development of new drugs. The company’s most notable product, 3D Chiral Scaffolds, are used by pharmaceutical companies all over the world.
LCC’s higher quality 3D compounds enable their customers to increase success probability, reduce trial costs and time and accelerate revenue generation.

Backed by a highly skilled, specialist management team, CEO Paul Colbon, a founding member of LCC, previously worked with Redx Pharma and AstraZeneca. Chairman and Director, Malcolm Stewart, has over 20 years industrial experience in speciality chemicals and advanced materials with ICI, Zeneca and Avecia and 15 years working at Board level with early-stage technology businesses servicing the Electronics and Life Science Sectors.

Paul Colbon, CEO and co-founder of LCC, said: “2020 was an outstanding year for LCC despite the challenges and continuing disruption of COVID. LCC’s stock of unique, diverse and high purity chemical compounds are expanding month on month. Securing these additional funds will enable the Team to accelerate investment in capital equipment, continuing the scale up of our production capability, enabling LCC to take advantage of the new and growing customer opportunities.”

Simon Robb, Portfolio Manager at Maven, said: “LCC is a global innovator creating specialist products that enable drug discovery and we’re delighted to continue to support such a pioneering company operating in a vital sector of the science technology space. Today’s transaction demonstrates our belief in how far the business has come and the future growth it can achieve. We look forward to working with Paul and the team as they drive the business forward.”

Asif Hamid MBE, Chair of the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), said: “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund has provided valuable support to our business community since its launch in 2017. By helping innovative and ambitious companies such as LCC grow and invest, NPIF has had a fantastic impact on unlocking business potential and creating jobs in the City Region.”

Grant Peggie at British Business Bank, said: “LCC is a great example of a business that is making a real difference at the heart of our Northern Powerhouse, pushing forward innovation, creating jobs and expanding internationally. The region has a thriving Life Sciences industry and even with a year of significant disruption, it continues to be successful. NPIF will continue to support innovative businesses in the sector, providing vital investment as the UK economy bounces back.”