Wastewater COVID-testing firm DeepVerge raises funds to drive growth

LONDON (Reuters) - DeepVerge, a London-listed company that tests wastewater for COVID-19 and also assesses skincare products, has raised 10 million pounds ($14.2 million) to fund expansion.

The company priced the new shares at 30 pence, representing a 11.8% discount on the closing price on June 4.

Chief Executive Gerry Brandon said DeepVerge was seeing faster than expected growth in both its Labskin human skin equivalent platform, which works with leading skincare companies such as L'Oréal and Kimberly-Clark, and in its wastewater testing business.

It is fitting new technology into its wastewater monitoring units, which number more than 3,000 installed in over 60 countries, to enable real-time detection of COVID and other contaminants, he said.

"If the virus is actually there, it's detected immediately and an alert is made," he said, adding that real-time detection was about three days faster than sending samples to a lab.

Shares in DeepVerge were trading down 3% at 32.5 pence on Monday.

($1 = 0.7060 pounds)

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Michael Holden)