Cambridge Enterprise leads 52 North Health investment round

Cambridge Enterprise, the commercialisation arm of the University of Cambridge has led the £1m funding round of UK and US-based medtech startup 52 North Health.

52 North is developing NeutroCheck, a fully-integrated clinical, AI and medical device-based system for people living with cancer. 52 North Health says that its digital platform uses AI to better predict patient risk and outcomes and is intended to have a huge impact on the way healthcare professionals treat patients. 

NeutroCheck has been designed to improve health equality, as cancer patients from lower socio-economic backgrounds are disproportionately affected by needing to attend hospital urgently. NeutroCheck is a low-cost point-of-care medical device which can be used by patients outside of hospital to monitor their risk of neutropenic sepsis, a potentially life-threatening complication of chemotherapy.

Joining Cambridge Enterprise in the funding round were Crista Galli Ventures, King’s Health Partners MedTech Innovations, Meltwind, Milltrust Ventures, and a number of business angels.

Fiona Pathiraja, managing partner of Crista Galli Ventures said. “By building a software- and hardware-enabled solution, 52 North aims to reduce the numbers of patients being admitted to hospital with life-threatening neutropenic sepsis.”

52 North is led by a team of multi-disciplinary sector experts, including former lawyer and business development professional Umaima Ahmad (CEO); consultant oncologist Dr Saif Ahmad (Chief Scientific and Medical Officer); data scientist and assistant professor at the University of Cambridge, Dr Mireia Crispin-Ortuzar (Chief Digital Officer); and Harvard University-based biosensor engineer Dr Nicole Weckman (Technology Advisor).

The company says that this latest investment will be used to take the NeutroCheck device through clinical trials in the UK, as well as to deliver on strategic partnerships, including those with the UK Sepsis Trust and Macmillan Cancer Support, in order to define a new clinical pathway for treating suspected neutropenic sepsis, and to ensure people living with disease continue to be at the heart of the product life-cycle.