à Expand The business boosting fund, managed by Northstar Ventures, has completed its first two investments which, as part of a wider funding round with other investors, saw two spinouts raise a total of £1,850,000. The fund was officially launched earlier this year to make substantial investments into spin-out businesses with high growth potential, and to attract investors from outside the North East. One of the first businesses to receive investment was AMLo Biosciences, a Newcastle University spin-out developing diagnostics for early-stage skin cancer. The company received a total investment of £1.5 million, £400,000 of which came directly from the Seed Investment Fund. They will use the cash boost to enable a market launch in the UK and prepare for international expansion with the commercialisation of their new melanoma test AMBLor in the USA and Australia in 2021.