WATSON Burton has advised venture capital firm Northstar Ventures in its contribution to investments totalling £2.6m over the past four months.

Despite the challenging economic climate, the law firm’s nationally-recognised corporate group advised Newcastlebased Northstar in completing key investments into SenseLogix, UroSens, Audacious and Odimax.

Smart building technology specialist SenseLogix has revealed plans to expand its operations following a secondround investment of £1m from Northstar, Beringea and the North-West Fund for Energy and Environment.

Bio science company UroSens has received £538,000 worth of funding to assist the business in developing a highly sensitive test to diagnose and monitor bladder cancer.

With more than one million people living with the disease and more than 140,000 new cases a year in Europe and the US, the company will use the investment to develop a testing product that will increase the chances of diagnosis at an early stage and monitor ongoing treatment.

Audacious is celebrating after securing funds totalling £325,000 from Northstar and private investors. Formed by North-East entrepreneurs Kevin Mann and Rachel Burns, the business specialises in the provision of tailored search engine software which enables end-users to filter results in line with their designated area of interest.

Following this investment, Mr Mann and Ms Burns are seeking to launch the business internationally, focusing on the US technology market.

The final investment, which completed last month, has seen social media intelligence company Odimax benefit from a £575,000 investment from Northstar and IP Group’s North-East Technology Fund, together with private investors. The company provides a social media intelligence suite that enables marketing and PR agencies to monitor, measure and respond to all social media activity via a single platform.

Watson Burton associate Paul Wigham led the team in advising Northstar on all four investments, drafting and negotiating the terms of agreements with the relevant parties.

He said: “These investments emphasise the entrepreneurial talent we have in the region.

“The commitment of investors such as Northstar in supporting successful highgrowth businesses is fantastic and we are pleased to be able to assist them in pushing forward innovative new organisations.”

Ian Richards, director of Northstar, said: “We are delighted to have invested in these promising businesses and look forward to supporting them in their continued success and expansion.

“Paul and the team at Watson Burton have been a pleasure to work with on these investments, their high-level commercial awareness and clear, practical advice added real value to the process.”