Welcome to Grove!

The World Health Organisation predicts that 50% of adults will have an allergy by 2050 (the figure is 30% now). One could call it an allergy epidemic. In this context, Grove aims to become one of the world’s leading allergy testing companies.

Grove is a spinout from Swansea University, launched on 1 March 2023 and operating out of two labs, in the Medicentre and Spark in Cardiff. The company is developing a new class of lateral flow tests for home testing of allergies, which use patented nanoparticles developed in Swansea. Grove also operates a 300-allergy lab screening service, and sells the new nanoparticles to the international R&D community to enable the investigation of their diverse functional applications.

A brief history of Grove

• Swansea University assigned 3 patents to Grove, and provided 2 years of free lab access from 2023, in return for an initial 20% shareholding.

• Grove was founded on a novel method for the sustainable manufacturing of nanoparticles, to be used as biomarkers in Lateral Flow Tests. The red line in a Covid home test is gold nanoparticles. Grove can manufacture novel blue and green gold as well.

• Realising that the market opportunity for biomedical tests themselves was much larger than for the biomarkers alone, Grove chose to develop Lateral Flow home tests for key allergies, addressing a major market need. They are due to reach the market in 2028.

• Grove has already implemented a broader Laboratory screening service for (300) allergies, using the MADx ALEX 3 system, which is the logical next step for customers testing positive at home. 

• Grove’s multicoloured gold nanoparticles that will be used in the home Lateral Flow tests are now on sale via our distributor Marixia.

• Grove’s management team consists of Prof. Richard Palmer (CEO/CTO), the founder, Dr Caitlin Crombie (Head of Business and Diagnostics) and Dr Kevin Wu (Head of Research and Data).

• Grove has two laboratories in Cardiff: the Grove Medical Laboratory in the Medicentre on the Heath University Hospital site, and the Grove NanoFactory in the Spark incubator centre, Maindy Road.

• Grove has obtained Stage 1 approval of its Quality Management System under ISO 9001, with Stage 2 expected shortly. This covers both Grove’s materials and allergy testing services.

• One reason for launching Grove was to contribute to the industrial regeneration of South Wales, one of the poorest regions in Europe. This means creating a thriving, commercially successful and fast-growing company, just as investors seek.

• Grove is named after Sir William Grove of Swansea who invented the fuel cell in the 1840s – one of Swansea’s great scientists.