Zonova, an antimicrobial materials startup developing infection-resistant medical device technology, has raised £2.1 million in a seed round led by THENA Capital, following a first close by Angel Academe, with participation from The Conduit Impact Fund, Arāya Sie Fund, The S100 Club, Animal Health Angels and strategic investors from the healthcare and medical technology sectors. The funding will support Zonova’s commercialisation strategy as it works with global medical device manufacturers to integrate its Z-ROS antimicrobial technology into high-volume medical devices including vascular access devices such as peripheral and central venous catheters.
Founded by Georgia Fleet and Carla Southworth, Zonova has developed an antimicrobial material platform that integrates directly into medical device polymers rather than relying on coatings or antibiotic-based approaches. The technology is designed to prevent microbial colonisation and biofilm formation, both of which contribute to healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance. Early laboratory studies showed more than 99.99% effectiveness against pathogens including MRSA, E. coli and P. aeruginosa.
Unlike conventional antimicrobial coatings, the Z-ROS platform is designed to function without the continuous release of active agents. Zonova stated that the technology uses a mode of action distinct from antibiotics, avoiding the resistance pathways typically associated with them. Commercial discussions are already underway with medical device manufacturers to validate manufacturability and performance at scale.
As part of the investment, Pamela Walker Geddes, Founding General Partner at THENA Capital, will join the Zonova board. Zonova plans to use the funding to expand its R&D and commercial teams, advance manufacturing validation, grow its patent portfolio and secure initial OEM licensing partnerships.
Healthcare-associated infections affect millions of patients globally each year and are increasingly linked to medical devices including catheters and ventilators. Antimicrobial resistance is also recognised by global health organisations as a major long-term healthcare threat. Zonova said its licensing-led model allows manufacturers to integrate the technology into existing product lines while maintaining current manufacturing and regulatory pathways.
This funding marks a defining moment for Zonova. We founded the company with the belief that infection prevention in medical devices needed a fundamentally new approach, one that moves beyond coatings, antibiotics, and short term fixes. Our technology has the potential to redefine how medical devices are designed globally by embedding antimicrobial protection directly into the material itself. THENA Capital immediately understood both the scale of the clinical problem and the magnitude of the commercial opportunity. The THENA team brings an exceptional combination of scientific depth, strategic insight, and operational ambition that is incredibly rare in venture. We are thrilled to have them leading this round and joining us as we scale toward major OEM partnerships and international deployment.
Zonova sits at the intersection of three of the most powerful forces shaping the future of healthcare: antimicrobial resistance, advanced materials science, and the urgent need for scalable infection prevention. What impressed us most was not simply the elegance of the science, but the strategic sophistication of the business model. Georgia and the team have built a platform technology capable of integrating into existing global medical device infrastructure with remarkable capital efficiency. That combination of defensible IP, strong clinical relevance, and scalable commercial architecture is exceptionally rare. We believe Zonova has the potential to become foundational infrastructure in next-generation medical devices, enabling manufacturers to dramatically reduce infection risk while supporting a future less dependent on antibiotics. This is precisely the type of world-class, category-defining company THENA was created to back.
