Zonova Closes £2.1 Million Seed Round to Support Commercial Scale Up

Congratulations to Zonova on the successful completion of its £2.1 million seed funding round, led by THENA Capital following an earlier close by Angel Academe.

Animal Health Angels participated in the round alongside The Conduit Impact Fund, Arāya Sie Fund, The S100 Club, and a number of strategic healthcare and medtech investors.

Founded by Dr Georgia Fleet and Carla Southworth, Zonova is developing antimicrobial materials for infection-resistant medical devices. Its Z-ROS® technology is designed to integrate directly into medical device polymers, rather than relying on coatings or antibiotics, helping to prevent microbial colonisation and biofilm formation.

The funding will support Zonova as it moves into its next phase of development, including commercial scaleup, manufacturing validation and work with medical device partners.

Carla Southworth, Ops Lead and Co-Founder of Zonova, said:

“Reaching this milestone is an incredibly proud moment for the entire team at Zonova. When we founded this company, we set out to provide a solution to one of the most urgent and devastating challenges in modern medicine: healthcare-associated infections, exacerbated by the rise of antimicrobial resistance.

This investment gives us the fuel we need to operationalise our next phase, moving from validation to high-volume commercial scale up across multiple medical devices. I could not be more proud of what our team has built, and I am filled with immense excitement for the global impact we are passionate to deliver.”

Verity Baldry, Chair of Zonova, added:

“Zonova combines exceptional science with clear commercial potential and a team capable of delivering genuinely world-changing impact. I’m incredibly proud of what we have achieved in getting to this point, and welcoming Pamela and THENA Capital onto the Board marks an important next chapter for the business.

It’s hugely encouraging to see female-led capital backing female-founded innovation throughout this raise, particularly in a market that hasn’t made fundraising easy. I have enormous gratitude to our longstanding friends at Angel Academe, and to our new partners at THENA Capital, Sie Ventures and Conduit Connect for believing in both the vision and the team.”

This is an exciting milestone for Zonova and its team as they continue to develop technology with the potential to support infection prevention across healthcare.

Congratulations to everyone involved.