Cork's Atlantia raises €1M+ for food and medical device trials
What's the deal? Atlantia, a Cork-based clinical trial company, has secured an investment of more than €1M from John Conroy's Redesdale Food & Beverage Fund. The firm plans to use the capital to expand its food trials business and grow in the medical device investigations market.
Redesdale said it will commit €1M to €1.5M in total to Atlantia's wider fundraising programme.
Atlantia spun out of APC Microbiome Ireland at University College Cork a decade ago. It specialises in human clinical trials for nutrition, microbiome, and medical device products, with dedicated clinics in Cork and Chicago. Its clients include Danone, Kerry Group, PepsiCo, Givaudan, Unilever, and Tate & Lyle.
The company is led by chief executive Andrea Doolan and chief commercial officer Barry Skillington. It manages trials end-to-end — from protocol design and placebo manufacture to data analysis and reporting.
Why now? Demand for high-quality clinical evidence in nutrition and medical devices is growing fast. Doolan said the investment "enables us to accelerate our growth, expand our capabilities and continue supporting our clients in bringing scientifically validated products to market."
Redesdale said it was impressed by Atlantia's position at the top of its sector and sees particular strengths in female health and microbiome research.
What could go wrong? Atlantia operates in a niche market where regulatory requirements vary across jurisdictions. Scaling from Cork and Chicago while maintaining the scientific rigour that attracted blue-chip clients could prove challenging as the company stretches into medical device investigations — an adjacent but distinct field.
The signal: The deal reflects growing investor appetite for companies that sit at the intersection of food, health, and clinical science. As food and beverage giants face mounting pressure to substantiate health claims with rigorous evidence, specialist trial firms like Atlantia stand to benefit.
The Redesdale fund — backed by Enterprise Ireland, Musgrave, Coca-Cola, Monaghan Mushrooms, and Tate & Lyle — targets early-stage food and nutrition companies, signalling that the sector's incumbents see value in building out the clinical infrastructure that underpins their own product pipelines.
Read more: irishexaminer.com
