Drug-trial video spin-out secures £1m for 'ibehave'

EDINBURGH University spin-out Actual Analytics has secured first-round funding of almost £1 million, which will allow it to hire additional staff in the run-up to launching its first commercial product in November.

Based on research initially carried out by chief executive James Heward, Actual is developing video analysis technology that automates the process of monitoring and recording the behaviour of human and animal test subjects during drug trials. This is seen as a crucial step in the development of new treatments for diseases of the central nervous system, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

The product, dubbed "ibehave", has already been tested with a number of universities and pharmaceutical firms in the UK, the US and Singapore. Actual Analytics aims to launch it formally at the annual conference of the Society for Neuroscience in November in San Diego, California.

The 900,000-plus funding is coming from a consortium of investors that is led by Discovery Investment Fund and includes Highland Venture Capital, TriCap and the Scottish Enterprise Co-Investment Fund. The cash will be supplied in two equal tranches, the first for development costs and the second for marketing.

Actual Analytics, which was formally spun out from Edinburgh University's School of Informatics March, is looking to hire an additional two or three staff.