Proxisense picks up Parkwalk funding

Proxisense, a UK-based industrial monitoring technology spinout from University of Oxford, has received an undisclosed amount of capital from Parkwalk Advisors, a fund management subsidiary of commercialisation firm IP Group.
Parkwalk supplied the cash through its Opportunities Fund, which receives UK tax benefits under the government’s enterprise investment scheme.
Founded in 2014, Proxisense has developed a proximity sensor system to precisely measure the position of industrial components such as rotating equipment and aero engines.
The sensor measures eddy currents formed when a conductor encounters movements and changes in nearby magnetic fields. It can be used to identify potential degradation or contamination in components, fuel storages and critical process fluids.
Proxisense was co-founded by its chief scientific officer Kam Chana, the commercial and technical director of Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science, along with Paul Vickery, who also acts as executive chairman of Cambridge oil and gas monitoring spinout Silicon Microgravity.
Proxisense previously attracted $435,000 in a December 2016 round led by University of Oxford Isis Fund III, an Oxford spinout-focused vehicle under Parkwalk’s management, that featured trade organisation Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Stephenson Fund.
Parkwalk Advisors also supplied Proxisense with an undisclosed amount of funding in September 2016. The spinout’s other backers include venturing firm Midven and unnamed angel investors.