BioCity, a pioneering life science incubator and business collective, today announced investment in INCUS Performance, further solidifying their position as a keen investor in promising ventures.

Founded in 2016, INCUS Performance is a sports technology start-up that is helping athletes to train better using data. The unique three-tier INCUS platform provides high-quality analytics to improve technique and training, initially specialised for swimming and Triathlon sports. By combining artificial intelligence and data analytics with wearable technology, INCUS is bringing new levels of technical clarity to athletes in an easy-to-understand way.

The wearable device, called INCUS | NOVA, is worn during training and captures high-quality motion and technique data, which is then automatically analysed and presented via a companion app to athletes and their coaches. This analysis provides meaningful insights to the training team and moves towards predictive analytics to inform future training strategies and marginal gains.

Each constituent element of the INCUS system - wearable device, data analytics and mobile platform - have been engineered from the ground up to optimise the quality, speed and efficiency of data capture, analysis and feedback.

With a research-led approach, INCUS systems are comprehensively validated against gold standard techniques alongside top-level athletes at Loughborough University - the world's leading sports university.

Marking the 27^th investment to date, BioCity is joined by co-investors in a deal launched via the BioCity Investment Platform.

The BioCity Investment Platform provides High-net-worth and Sophisticated investors with a background in life science, with co-investment opportunities they may not otherwise be aware of. As a co-investor, BioCity undertakes rigorous due diligence on all investment opportunities, selecting promising ventures with real scalability.

Claire Brown, director of investment at BioCity said, “INCUS Performance are tapping into an unmet need. The current application of the INCUS system in swimming has real potential to translate into and become a leader within triathlon sport athletics.

“We are in the privileged position of meeting founders in the early stages of venture development. We use this insight to invest in early-stage ventures, which are seen as high-risk, to support their growth and, crucially to facilitate later rounds of investment. Chris and the INCUS team are a wonderful example of what can be achieved in a short amount of time by bringing together commercial and technical expertise.”

Chris Ruddock, managing director, INCUS Performance said, “This investment allows us to grow our innovation team, commercialise a new generation of wearable technology for athletes and develop further disruptive technologies for sports and personal monitoring. INCUS | NOVA has seen exceptional support from athletes and coaches during its development, but we wouldn’t be able to get the technology out to meet this need without experienced partners such as BioCity. Their impressive network, expertise in business, biotech and health sectors, alongside a clear focus to support disruptive, high-technology start-ups, was key for us when choosing an investment partner. We are proud to partner with the BioCity group, and look forward to working with them in the next steps of our commercial journey.”

The process of securing funding was supported by law firms, Shakespeare Martineau, acting for INCUS and MBM Commercial, acting for BioCity, who advised on all legal aspects of the deal.

Roger Harcourt, partner and head of healthcare at Shakespeare Martineau, said: “The dynamic team at INCUS has created a fabulous product, which is well placed to make a big impact on the sports wearables market and this deal will ensure that its success continues. Securing the support of investors with a track record in tech innovation will provide opportunities and allow this ambitious business to thrive.

“This investment underpins the East Midlands’ commitment to the development of the life sciences sector and illustrates the innovative work being undertaken in the region. INCUS Performance has already achieved a tremendous amount in a short time, and we look forward to supporting them as they continue to develop.”

Zara Diloo, a director in MBM Commercial’s corporate team, who was assisted by Hannah Brazel, said, “MBM has been privileged to work alongside BioCity on this investment in INCUS. This investment promotes not only INCUS’s exciting product and opportunity to scale-up its wearable technology for athletes, but it also highlights how supportive BioCity Group have been in the support and development of INCUS and other exciting high growth biotech and health sector companies.

“We hope that this is a fruitful partnership that will allow INCUS to grow and become a leader in an ever-expanding wearable technology market. MBM get involved in lots of interesting projects but the potential long-term benefit and global impact that could come from this fusion of capital and disruptive technologies are genuinely exciting, and MBM was glad to play a small part in making it happen. We look forward to continuing our support of BioCity and its investment in INCUS and other exciting business”.

To find out more about the BioCity Accelerator and Investment Platform, visit www.biocity.co.uk

About BioCity
Home to more than 200 pioneering Life Science and environmental tech companies, BioCity is a pioneering life science incubator and business collective dedicated to helping small businesses tackle global health & environmental challenges. Not the typical business incubator, BioCity takes a holistic approach to business support. It offers an in-house accelerator programme, investment platform, flexible lab and office space, UK wide network of mentors and specialised equipment, all housed within the various BioCity business locations.

Founded in 2002 by the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University, BioCity originated in a former BASF Pharma research facility in Nottingham city centre.

In 2012 BioCity acquired the MSD research facility in Newhouse near Glasgow to create Glasgow, BioCity. This was closely followed by a second site in Nottingham, MediCity, which is located on the Boots campus and is a collaboration with Walgreens Boots Alliance. In 2016 the Newhouse site was further expanded to create Glasgow, MediCity. BioCity also operates at Alderley Park, in Cheshire, Aberdeen and Newcastle.

The company has made 27 investments in early stage companies and has delivered a healthy growth in portfolio valuation. Funds are deployed from its own cash reserves and from a joint venture vehicle with AstraZeneca which BioCity manages.

In 2017, BioCity was identified as one of Europe’s fastest growing companies in the Financial Times’ FT 1000 report. The BioCity model of ‘support from inception to incorporation’ initially challenged the industry standard but quickly became the industry leader due to the unprecedented survival rates of BioCity based businesses. For more information visit https://biocity.co.uk/about

About INCUS Performance
Founded in 2016, INCUS Performance is a sports technology start-up that is helping athletes to train better using data. The INCUS platform is underpinned by three pillars; high-quality measurement, automated technical analysis, and clear communication of results. With this unique three-tier system, INCUS brings new levels of technical clarity to athletes in an easy-to-understand way, which has been initially specialised for technique and performance improvement in Triathlon sports.

INCUS is driven by an engineering approach to research, development and validation. Iterative design, development and customer-led testing with athletes and coaches in Loughborough allows INCUS to innovate across processes to provide a sleek and integrated user experience. The team actively compares against Gold standards such as robotics and underwater video using a scientific process. By continuing to publish results and test conditions transparently, INCUS can demonstrate objectively that its world-first measurements and analytics (including body pitch/roll profiling in swimming) are of market-leading quality and can be trusted.

Since its inception, INCUS has received multiple awards for innovation, including a prestigious grant-funded project in 2017, co-sponsored by Innovate UK. With a now functioning and integrated system in use by athletes and coaches in the field, INCUS is preparing to make the NOVA devices and INCUS platform more widely available through a commercial offering by the end of 2019. In the meantime, the team continues to grow, and further opportunities for trials of the technology are being made available to selected athletes and coaches, both elite and amateur, through a soft-launch beginning May 2019.

• For more information, visit www.incusperformance.com
• For pre-orders of INCUS | NOVA, contact sales@incusperformance.com
• For to apply for trials of INCUS | NOVA as part of the soft launch, contact trials@incusperformance.com
• To explore opportunities to join the INCUS team, visit www.incusperformance.com or contact careers@incusperformance.com
• To keep updated with INCUS news and progress, follow on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @INCUS_HQ