NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – HiberGene Diagnostics has raised a first tranche of €1.5 million ($1.6 million) as part of a planned series B fundraising round of approximately €3.5 million, the Dublin-based molecular diagnostics firm said today.
The first tranche comes from a number of undisclosed private investors in Ireland, and was facilitated primarily through the Irish Employment and Investment Incentive scheme, which provides tax relief to investors who back small- and medium-sized companies.
HiberGene will use the funding to develop and commercialize tests for Group B Streptococcus, Clostridium difficile, and norovirus, all of which the company plans to launch in 2016. These tests will follow the 2015 launch of HG Meningococcus, a rapid molecular test for meningitis that runs on the company's HG Swift infectious disease diagnostics platform.
"With our meningitis test now launched, and three further products to be released in 2016, HiberGene is making significant progress towards developing a portfolio of rapid, easy-to-use, and accurate tests for a range of human infectious diseases," HiberGene CEO Brendan Farrell said in a statement.