The Swedish biotechnology company Gradientech has closed a fully subscribed rights issue totalling USD 4.6 million (SEK 42.5 million).

Existing owners, as well as new parties appointed by Erik Penser Bank AB, who acted as financial advisor, have subscribed. Bird & Bird Lawyers acted as legal advisors.

The company’s largest rights issue

“We have now successfully completed Gradientech’s largest rights issue, which provides capital for continued development and early market introduction of our QuickMIC diagnostic system. Our system is significantly faster than existing laboratory techniques for antibiotic resistance testing of samples from sepsis patients. This is critically important for the sepsis patient, and also advantageous for the healthcare economy since the length of stay in hospital can be reduced. The implementation of our QuickMIC system can also reduce improper use of antibiotics, which is very import to combat the global increase in antibiotic resistance,” says Sara Thorslund, CEO of Gradientech.

Relevant business backgrounds and important networks

New shareowners include a noticeable number of individuals with solid industrial experience from the diagnostics field, and also persons experienced specifically within the area of antibiotic susceptibility testing.

“We are particularly pleased that, in addition to new investment capital, people with very relevant business backgrounds and important networks have joined the ownership structure. I believe this will benefit the company’s development strongly going forward,” says Thorslund.