AN extra quarter of a million pounds has been injected into an award-winning York company which has taken the world of surgical training by storm.

Medcom Ltd at York Science Park, which uses 3D techniques on the internet to assess surgical skills, has attracted £150,000 of funding from Yorkshire-based venture capital company, the Viking Fund.

Extra funding for these "virtual" operations for post-graduate trainee surgeons has come from HSBC Bank plc, through the Smalls Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme.

Medcom, run by Warren Hobden and Chris Matson, broadly described as a technology-driven medical publishing business, won the 2004 Venturefest Business Awards competition.

Its prize then was £3,000 in cash, £10,000-worth of professional advice and a year's free accommodation at the York Science Park.

Better still, investors attending Venturefest were alerted to Medcom's surgicalskills.net, a distance learning package designed to develop the knowledge and skills of surgical trainees.

Surgicalskills.net is an internet-based surgical atlas, which offers users anatomically correct 3D animations of surgical techniques along with text, images and a voiceover which acts as a virtual mentor. The system also has assessment and feedback facilities. Surgicalskills.net is not designed to replace established training methods, but to act as a powerful companion for surgical trainees.

It has been developed in response to growing pressure on the NHS to train more surgeons, reduce patient waiting times and improve levels of patient care.

The Viking Fund's investment will be used to help develop the content of surgicalskill.net, recruit support staff and assist with marketing and promotion.

Mr Hobden, Medcom's chief executive, said: "This funding has come at an excellent time. It has given us the resources to push ahead with the next stage of our business plan. This is a very exciting time for us."

The Viking Fund was set up to provide opportunities for technology-based businesses based in Yorkshire and the Humber region seeking an injection of capital.

The Fund was established with £5 million repayable grant from the DTI's Small Business Service, with further funding provided by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.

All the fund's investments must be matched pound for pound by private investment.

As a vehicle to this the Viking Club, a group of well-off business "angels", was established to work in partnership with the fund.

The Viking Fund has a ten-year lifespan and expects to make around 40 investments of £50,000 in early-stage businesses, with a lower number of second-round investments of £150,000.

Andrew Burton, the fund's managing director, said: "We are very excited about our investment in Medcom. It is a company with a great vision and a high level of expertise.

"Surgicalskills.net is an impressive system which promises to bring real solutions to a pressing problem. Medcom is a great example of a company the Viking Fund likes to invest in."

Updated: 11:34 Tuesday, March 22, 2005