A group of 22 Bristol-based entrepreneurs have invested in Anaphite — a growing business that is looking at new ways of using advanced materials, including the development of an “electronic nose”.

The group, all members of Bristol Private Equity Club, have invested a total of £222,000, as part of a total fund-raising package of £425,000 by the business.

Anaphite was established by Sam Burrow and Alexander Hewitt to look at ways to exploit the potential of graphene after they left university.

Their work so far has also attracted grants totalling over £500,000 over the last year from Innovate UK.

COO Alexander Hewitt (www.anaphite.com) said: “The fact that people with a wealth of diverse business experience believe we can succeed makes us optimistic about the future.

“They see the scalability of the business and the potential impact it can have.

"We will use much of the funding from BPEC to develop our work on gas sensors. We are developing an ‘electronic nose’ that could be used to detect hazardous gases, to monitor harmful pollutants in our cities, to indicate when food has gone off, and to detect certain gases in breath.

“The rest of the funding will be used to further our work on batteries. We are using graphene for this because it has got high electrical conductivity, high strength and high thermal conductivity.

“We are looking at how the material can be used to prolong battery life and improve charging speed, so that devices do not have to be charged for as long or replaced as often.”