Oxford Medical Products to raise £1.2 million in seed investment backed by Ada Ventures.

Oxford Medical Products (OMP), an Oxford, UK-based manufacturer of pills for weight loss, announced completing a seed funding round of £1.2 million ($1.7M).

The money was raised from investors led by Ada Ventures and participation from Selvedge Venture alongside several angel investors including Nick Edwards, a founder of the company, and Jan Hruska, co-founder of Sophos.

The proceeds are to be used to complete pre-clinical testing, upscale and outsource manufacturing and grow the team.

OMP, founded in 2017 by Jan Czenurska and Hutan Ashrafian, is developing an affordable weight loss capsule, which uses the same mechanism of action as a gastric balloon, but can be taken at home. For producing the pills, OMP developed a non-surgical weight loss technology called Sirona, a self-expanding hydrogel capsule that once swallowed expands in the stomach and occupies space. Sirona is designed to work continuously, reducing hunger and leading to significant weight loss. While it is designed to work in the same way as a gastric balloon, which has to be placed endoscopically in a hospital, Sirona can be used at home.