Midlands Mindforge has led a major seed investment into Intelligent Mass Spectrometry Solutions Ltd (IMS Solutions), a new joint spinout from the University of Birmingham and Imperial College London developing breakthrough “steroid fingerprint” diagnostics for complex hormone related conditions.
IMS Solutions is advancing two significant innovations: a world first stratification test for Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS), and a more accurate diagnostic for Adrenocortical Carcinoma (ACC), a rare but aggressive cancer. Both tests are built on the company’s platform technology, which detects unique steroid signatures in urine and blood to support earlier, clearer and more accurate diagnosis.
Steroid hormones regulate many of the body’s core functions – including stress responses, metabolism, energy use, blood pressure, reproduction and fertility. Because they influence such a wide range of processes, conditions involving disordered steroid hormone metabolism often present with diffuse and overlapping symptoms. This makes diagnosis challenging, time consuming and costly for patients and healthcare systems. IMS Solutions’ approach directly addresses this unmet need.
IMS Solutions launches with a £1.1 million Seed round led by Midlands Mindforge alongside a syndicate including SFC Capital, the UK’s Innovation and Seed Capital Fund (UKI2S – managed by Future Planet Capital), NG Bio, British Business Bank and private investors. The company is further supported by a £2.1 million grant from the NIHR awarded to Imperial College London under the Invention for Innovation programme.
This combined funding will enable IMS Solutions to refine, advance and launch a urine based diagnostic for ACC by 2029, and to develop the world’s first stratification test for PMOS, the most common hormone disorder in women, affecting 10–15% of the global female population.
Dr Martin Whitaker, CEO of IMS Solutions, said: “IMS Solutions is launching with a strong commercial and scientific team, and a well advanced roadmap for products that align with current demands from patients, clinicians and healthcare providers.”
Priya Reddy, Healthcare, Life Sciences and Climate Tech lead at Midlands Mindforge, said: “Women’s health conditions such as PMOS have historically been significantly underfunded and underserved, despite affecting millions of women globally. IMS has the potential to change that by enabling a faster, more accurate route to diagnosis and, ultimately, better patient outcomes. We are incredibly excited to be leading this investment and supporting the IMS team as they bring this important technology to market.”
Professor Wiebke Arlt, Chief Scientific Officer at IMS Solutions said: “We validated the test through the largest ever adrenal cancer study, involving 2,000 patients from 11 countries, and proved that it works in real‑world conditions. The funding means we can now simplify the test, certify to current regulatory standards, show it is also good value for money and can be reliably performed in existing NHS laboratories, without new machines or additional costs.”
IMS Solutions is a joint spinout from the University of Birmingham and Imperial College London, who have provided background patent and know how intellectual property exclusively to the company.
The technology platform was initially developed at the University of Birmingham by Professor Wiebke Arlt, who is Chief Scientific Officer at IMS Solutions. Professor Arlt, a renowned expert in steroid endocrinology, is Director of the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS), where she leads the Steroids & Metabolism research group, and Head of Department at the Institute of Clinical Sciences at Imperial College London. She also serves as the first female President of the European Society of Endocrinology.
