Press Releases in 2001
Primal Pictures
ICON raises £3.2m
May 2001
Primal Pictures, a developer of complex 3D modelling for the medical training industry, has raised £3.2 in a second round led by Credit Agricole Indosuez.
The London company provides 3D computer graphic models of human anatomy - derived from medical scans - in a series of CD-ROMs which are sold around the world to medical teaching institutions. Primal's interactive products - such as hand, hip, knee and shoulder - are perceived as the future of medical education and it is creating what is believed to be the world's first definitive 3D computer graphic anatomical model of the entire human body.
In the second round of funding Primal Pictures has been backed by a team of investors led by Credit Agricole Indosuez Private Equity. Alongside the company's founders and academic investors shareholders include British Smaller Technology Companies VCT, British Smaller Companies VCT, Capital for Companies VCT, BWD AIM VCT and UK academic publisher Taylor & Francis.
The new funding will fuel further expansion. The medium term aim of the company is to build the world's first complete model of the human body in such a way that animating structures will show movement and function and to provide a basis for a range of versions for a variety of medical disciplines.
The company was set up in 1991 by two experienced members of the computer graphics and TV industries: Laurie Wiseman, an award-winning documentary film-maker for Channel 4, and Chris Briscoe, a pioneer of 3D computer graphics and founder of Digital Pictures. Marketing strength comes from Primal's chairman David Carman, a former chief executive with Franklin Mint, the US corporation.
Wiseman, Primal's managing director, said that completion of "the Body", due by the end of next year, would be followed by moves into new markets. "We expect to enter new markets including dentistry, eye surgery and neurology - and eventually every medical discipline you can imagine," he said. "We will be developing a score of products over the next three years and see ourselves becoming a key developer of medical education products. What we are doing is creating the 'next generation Gray's Anatomy' - an animated text book with multiple uses."
From starting out as a research group investigating ways of creating high-resolution graphics for medical teaching, Primal has developed a set of software tools and skills which involves the interpretation of medical imaging data, its processing into 3D models and its display as a CAD-CAM model of anatomical structures. Working with academic institutions such as University College, London, Primal has won grants from the European Community Media Program and a number of UK government innovation funds to create 3D computer graphics of anatomy.
One of its earliest shareholders is Prof Gus McGrouther, professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at University College. Primal raised a total of GBP1.5m from investors in 1997 and 1999.
Primal Pictures' customers include some of the world's top orthopaedic manufacturers including Zimmer which makes hip and knee replacements and Sulzer, the Swiss firm which is Europe's biggest maker of hip and knee replacements.
For Smith & Nephew a series of customised CD-ROMs is being created, linked to S&N's range of endoscopy products for treating shoulder injuries. The products will be used both for training S&N's sales force and for surgeon education. In the US, Primal Pictures already supplies GE Medical Systems with its range of orthopaedic CD-ROMs.
Wiseman said: "More than anything, this confirms the quality of our products. When the world's leading medical imaging company is using our discs to help educate its customers, we know we must be on the right track."
He predicts that the company could be looking at an initial public offering or trade sale in the next three years depending on growth and how quickly markets adjusted. Down the line he expects certain products to be made use of outside the medical field, for example as a primary education resource.
Alan Bristow, of ICON Corporate Finance, said London-based Primal was well positioned to become one of the dominant players in the marketplace.
ition in the corporate finance market as leading specialist to hi-tech and e commerce companies."
