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Home › Media › Releases 2005 › CapMan and SEB Företagsinvest invest EUR 3.3 million in Swedish SciBase

Press release - 1 February 2005

CapMan and SEB Företagsinvest invest EUR 3.3 million in Swedish SciBase

Swedestart Life Science KB fund managed/advised by CapMan and SEB Företagsinvest have announced that they will together invest EUR 3.3 million (SEK 30 million) in Swedish medtech company SciBase AB. The investment in SciBase will finance the pre-marketing development and launch of the company’s initial product for diagnosing skin cancers.

SciBase AB is specialised in determining malignancies in the skin by the use of electric impedance. The company’s first product is a prognostic instrument for determining cancers in the skin such as melanoma, squamous cell cancer and basal cell cancer. SciBase has discovered a new principle to differentiate skin cancer from harmless spots without the need for invasive operation. The company’s innovation enables both cost and time efficiencies in healthcare and its main markets will be Europe and the US.

SciBase, which was founded in 1998 by Stig Ollmar, Associate Professor, Ph.D., is based in Novum Research Park, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm. Mr Christer Wallin, whose previous positions include President and CEO of NGM listed Biolight International AB, has been appointed as new CEO for the company.

”I have followed the R&D efforts of this company with great satisfaction since its inception. The fact that competent investors like CapMan and SEB now make their entrance in SciBase confirms that the company is, and always has been, on the right track,” says the Chairman of the Board of SciBase, Jonas Bratt, Atty. at Law.

“SciBase is a perfect example of the kind of company that CapMan likes to be involved in,” emphasises Johan Bennarsten, Investment Manager at CapMan. “The company develops a unique product targeting a big clinical need and health-economic problem. Managing patients with melanoma problems requires huge resources, and the market opportunity is estimated at several hundred million euros.”

Viktor Drvota, who is responsible for Business Development, Life Science at SEB Företagsinvest, comments on the deal as “a very interesting business opportunity in a company with a unique technology for diagnosing malignant melanoma.”

For further information, please contact:
Mr Christer Wallin, CEO, SciBase AB, tel. + 46 702 198 580
Dr Johan Bennarsten, Investment Manager, CapMan Life Science, tel. +46 8 5458 5472
Dr Viktor Drvota, Business Development, Life Science, SEB Företagsinvest, tel. +46 8 763 79 00

Additional information on companies:

CapMan Group
CapMan is one of the leading private equity investors in the Nordic countries and specialises in middle market buyouts in various industry sectors, technology investments in the IT and telecommunications sectors and investments in life science companies. The CapMan team comprises around 80 people in Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo. CapMan manages/advises Nordic funds with approx. EUR 1.2 billion in total capital. To date, the funds managed by CapMan have invested in 147 companies in the Nordic countries and exited from 70 companies. The latest investments are made in Swedish Animex AB, Finnish Tokmanni Oy, Norwegian Locus AS and Danish Anhydro Group. CapMan Plc is listed on the Main List of the Helsinki Stock Exchange. www.capman.com

SciBase AB
SciBase AB is a medical technology company founded in 1998. The company develops instrumentation for non-invasive diagnostics and monitoring of tissue alterations and different skin cancers. The SciBase I instrument utilises a proprietary technology based on depth selective electrical impedance spectroscopy and was developed at Karolinska Institutet by Stig Ollmar, the founder of the company. SciBase has 3 employees and is based at Novum Research Park, Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge. www.scibase.se

SEB Företagsinvest
SEB Företagsinvest is the venture capital arm of Skandianviska Enskilda Banken (SEB). The business concept is to invest venture capital and add competence and network to growth companies in life science and technology in the Nordic area. Since its inception in 1995, SEB Företagsinvest has invested in more than 60 companies, of which 25 have been exited. www.seb.se/foretagsinvest

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