The project came about after AF ChemPharm successfully secured a £25,000 Business Investment Fund (BIF) grant through Sheffield City Region Growth Hub’s AFCOE (Access to Finance Centre of Excellence) in 2019.
The Sheffield City Region Growth Hub is now continuing to work with AF ChemPharm on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership, with its Finance Advisor Steve Carroll recently introducing the company to a potential investor.
Dr Rukhsana Quyoum, Director and Scientist at AF ChemPharm, explains: “We’ve been working with the Growth Hub for a couple of years and their support has been invaluable. Not only have they guided our team on securing funding, but they’ve also put us in touch with some very useful contacts – their business advice and guidance has been second to none.”
Dr Rukhsana Quyoum adds: “Our research depends very much on collaboration and we are now hoping with a potential investor on board that we can take this very important Knowledge Transfer Project forward.”
Access to Finance Advisor Steve Carroll at Sheffield City Region Growth Hub, said: “It is a real pleasure to work with AF ChemPharm, a dynamic company which is doing some extremely innovative world-leading work in the chemical industry. We have advised them on finance options and guided them through the application process. As a result, they have been able to further develop their expertise and services, which will support their future growth.”
AF ChemPharm specialises in ‘chemistry synthesis of small molecules’ – the construction of complex chemical compounds. Since 1998 it has been providing expertise to pharma and biochemical companies, the chemical industry including the semiconductor sector, and leading universities. Business clients include FTSE-100 pharmaceutical companies.
The team of PhD chemists at AF ChemPharm have both academic and industry backgrounds in synthetic organic chemistry, plus a wider network of scientific advisers, have designed several unique molecules as ‘drug candidates’ in order to develop a new generation of antibiotics.