TIDMIVO
RNS Number : 1251X
Imperial Innovations Group plc
10 August 2009
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10 August 2009
Imperial Innovations Group plc
Further investments in three portfolio companies
Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO, "Imperial Innovations"), a leading
technology commercialisation and investment company, announces further
investments in three of its portfolio companies.
GBP500,000 investment in Novacem to combat global warming with 'carbon-negative'
cement
Novacem is developing novel cement that reduces the amount of carbon dioxide
produced in its creation and absorbs and locks away atmospheric CO2 on
hardening. Because the production of conventional Portland cement is thought to
be responsible for 5% of global CO2 emissions, this 'carbon negative' cement
could have significant benefits in the fight against global warming.
Imperial Innovations invested GBP500,000 in a GBP1m round of seed equity
funding, with the Royal Society Enterprise Fund and the London Technology Fund
providing the balance. Imperial Innovations owns 39.5% of Novacem, which has
appointed Jon Page, Imperial Innovations' Director of New Ventures to its Board.
Novacem's technology is based on the research and inventions of Dr Nikolaos
Vlasopoulos (Chief Scientist) and Dr Chris Cheeseman (Senior Scientific Advisor)
from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College
London. Imperial Innovations provided incubation facilities for the
newly created company as well as some pre-seed funding to help Novacem recruit a
commercial manager and develop a business plan. In addition, it was instrumental
in helping Novacem secure a GBP1m grant from the Technology Strategy Board and
worked closely with Novacem to recruit an experienced executive chairman, Stuart
Evans.
Clean technologies are a major focus for Imperial Innovations, which has also
provided significant funding and expertise to help launch other clean tech
companies including EVO Electric and Quantasol.
GBP333,000 helps Cortexica replicate human vision
Cortexica Vision Systems Ltd has developed technology that enables computers to
see the way humans do.Its first product, BrandTrack for Video, monitors streams
of video, on-line TV, or Broadcast programmes on a continual frame basis so that
multiple objects such as logos and brands can be found and tracked continuously
(24/7) in real-time.The system is being deployed to analyse sporting events for
sponsorship return on investment as well as international advertisement
monitoring, replacing the current labour-intensive and subjective processes.
Imperial Innovations led a second round of seed funding, alongside co-investor
Esmee Fairbairn. Imperial Innovations owns 31.5% of Cortexica, which has
appointed Imperial Innovations' CFOO, Julian Smith to its Board.
Cortexica Vision Systems Limited has commercialised the research of Dr Anil
Bharath and Dr Jeffery Ng from the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial
College London. They have studied the way the human brain analyses visual
information and replicated this in the Cortexica technology, which imitates
human visual behaviour using advanced hardware and software engineering.
Further investment in Acrobot's precision surgical systems
Imperial Innovations has invested alongside the Pan London Technology Fund and
PUK Investment in a further funding round in Acrobot, which is developing
precision surgical systems for computer-assisted 3D planning, surgical
navigation and surgeon-controlled robotic surgery. Since its inception, the
company has received more than GBP3m investment from this syndicate.
Acrobot was formed as a result of collaboration between Professor Justin Cobb,
Chair of Orthopaedics at Imperial College London, and Professor Brian Davies,
Medical Robotics also at Imperial. The overall goals of Acrobot's technology are
to provide speed, accuracy and reproducibility, enhancing clinical outcomes,
whilst augmenting surgeon skills, increasing productivity and promoting bone
conservation.
Imperial Innovations nominated Galvin Mould to the Acrobot Board. He was
previously president at Orthofix International and VP of Marketing at Zimmer.
Susan Searle, CEO of Imperial Innovations, said:
"We are confident that the investments we have made in these three portfolio
companies, along with the management expertise we have provided, will help them
become world leaders in their respective fields. Furthermore, these investments
in green technology, surgical robotics and image processing demonstrate the
diversity of technologies we are supporting."
Enquiries:
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| Imperial Innovations | |
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| Susan Searle, Chief Executive Officer | Tel. 020 7594 6589 |
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| Diana Crisp, PR Manager | |
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| | |
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| College Hill | Tel. 020 7457 2020 |
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| Carl Franklin / Sue Charles | |
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| | |
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| J.P. Morgan Cazenove (NOMAD to Imperial | Tel. 020 7588 2828 |
| Innovations) | |
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| Steve Baldwin | |
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Note to Editors
Imperial Innovations is one of the UK's leading technology commercialisation and
investment companies. Founded in 1986 and admitted to the AIM Market of the
London Stock Exchange in 2006, Imperial Innovations' access to early stage
technology and intellectual property is unparalleled.
Imperial Innovations' integrated commercialisation approach encompasses the
identification of ideas, the protection of intellectual property, the
development and licensing of technology and the formation, incubation and
funding, through investment, of technology businesses.
Based at Imperial College London, Imperial Innovations' portfolio of equity
holdings in more than 80 companies spans its three core areas of Healthcare,
Engineering & IT, and Energy & Environment.
Companies in the portfolio of Imperial Innovations include: Circassia (allergy
therapeutics), Evo Electric (electric motor and generator solutions), Nexeon
(lithium ion battery technology), Polytherics (drug development), Quantasol
(solar concentrators) and Respivert (respiratory drug development).
Imperial Innovations has already realised significant value from its investments
to date including from a recent trade sale in December 2008 when Thiakis
Limited, a company in which Imperial Innovations had a 23.7% stake, was sold for
up to GBP100 million to US-based Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. More recent trade sales
include certain Heliswirl IP to Technip and InforSense to IDBS.
www.imperialinnovations.co.uk
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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