WorldOne said it would use the capital to accelerate the development of its data collection and interactive business with focus on the expansion of Sermo, which the company acquired in July 2012, to offer physicians participation in industry market research and collaborate with their peers.

The company claims Sermo is the largest fully verified online physician community in the US and has hosted more than three million discussions, with members spending over 40,000 hours each month engaging with each other online and via mobile applications.

WorldOne chief executive officer Peter Kirk said: “With the Sermo acquisition to complement our innovative engagement product portfolio and global reach to cover over one million physicians, we had the core ingredients to build a much needed interactive destination for physicians around the world.”