Shares in clinical trials group Venn Life Sciences have been admitted to trading on AIM.

This follows the announcement on 6 November of a placing by Zeus Capital to raise approximately £2.5 million by means of the issue new Ordinary Shares.

"Moving to AIM is the first step in our strategy to build a mid-sized pan-European CRO. We expect to achieve this through organic growth but also by targeting the acquisition of smaller, profitable regional European CRO's to complement our existing geographies," chief executive officer Tony Richardson said.

Founded in 2007, Venn raised $3 million in 2010 fundraising. The company was bought by British investment vehicle Armscote last month in a deal worth £2.88 million.

Armscote was established in February 2001 to acquire controlling interests in growth SMEs focused on the UK market.