Investment in Techtran

IP2IPO Group PLC
18 July 2004


For Immediate Release                                             19 July 2004

                                IP2IPO Group plc


                 Strategic Investment in Techtran Group Limited

IP2IPO Group plc ('IP2IPO' or the 'Company') (AIM: IPO), the intellectual
property company that commercialises university technology, is pleased to
announce it has made a strategic investment of £2 million in Techtran Group
Limited ('Techtran') in return for approximately 20% of Techtran's current
issued share capital.

Information on Techtran

Techtran was set up in 2002 by Axiomlab Group plc to commercialise university
intellectual property and has a long-term technology commercialisation contract
with the University of Leeds. Under the terms of the contract Techtran receives
a significant (30%) interest in spin-out companies created and technology
licences negotiated in return for the provision of technology transfer services
to the University.

The University of Leeds was rated as one of the UK's top-ten universities for
research in the most recent national Research Assessment Exercise. It has an
annual turnover of some £320 million and a research income of more than £70
million. It has been a pioneer of intellectual property commercialisation in the
UK and was the first UK university to set up a dedicated technology transfer
function. Filtronic plc was one of the first UK university spin-out companies
and was founded in 1977. Another of the University's most successful spin-out
companies is GMAP, which developed geographical modelling software to identify
patterns in customer behaviour.

Techtran's business model is based on managing university technology transfer
activities on an outsourced basis. Since 2002 Techtran has acquired significant
interests in 15 University of Leeds spin-out companies and as of May 2004 had
retained losses of approximately £500,000 and net assets of approximately
£340,000.

Reasons for the investment

IP2IPO's investment achieves a number of objectives:

• Through the investment IP2IPO will have secured an exposure to the
world class intellectual property base of the University of Leeds from which
Techtran will create value;

• The investment will draw the two companies closer together. David
Norwood, IP2IPO's Chief Executive Officer, will become a Non-executive Director
of Techtran. IP2IPO and Techtran will work together to identify and combine the
strengths of their respective business models;

• The £2 million investment from IP2IPO will significantly strengthen
Techtran's balance sheet.

Commenting on today's announcement, David Norwood, Chief Executive Officer of
IP2IPO, said: 'I am delighted that IP2IPO has taken a 20% strategic stake in
Techtran. IP2IPO has known Techtran since its formation and there is a clear
strategic fit between the two companies. The Techtran team broke new ground when
it became the first group to take over the outsourced management of a university
technology transfer office and since then it has established a strong process
for creating value from the intellectual property assets of the University of
Leeds. Now, as shareholders in the Techtran business, we look forward to sharing
in the value.'

Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer of Techtran, said: 'This investment marks a
major milestone for Techtran. It is a testament to the quality of the research
base and the success of our relationship with the University of Leeds and
provides us with an improved platform from which to grow our operations. In
IP2IPO, we could not have found an investor who understands our business better
and there is enormous scope for the two companies to develop and prosper
together.'

For more information please contact:

IP2IPO
David Norwood, Chief Executive Officer                           020 7071 4348

Buchanan Communications
Tim Anderson, Mark Court, Mary-Jane Johnson                      020 7466 5000

Techtran
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer                             07866 436 737

Notes to editors

IP2IPO

IP2IPO is an intellectual property (IP) company that specialises in
commercialising university technology. The Company, which was founded in 2001,
has already formed four long-term partnerships with UK universities and listed
on AIM in October 2003.

IP2IPO's first partnership was with the University of Oxford. In return for an
investment of £20 million, IP2IPO has acquired 50 per cent of the University of
Oxford's equity in spin-out companies and technology licenses based on
intellectual property created at the Chemistry Department until 2015. In
November 2003, IP2IPO created a £5 million seed capital fund for investing in
spin-out companies across the University of Oxford, not just those originating
within the Chemistry Department.

In March 2002, IP2IPO entered into a second long-term partnership with the
University of Southampton. Under the terms of this partnership, IP2IPO is
committed to working with the University of Southampton in the identification
and facilitation of spin-out companies from across the University of Southampton
and to investing £5 million in early-stage University of Southampton spin-out
companies over a four year period in return for equity stakes in those
companies. In addition, IP2IPO also received a 20 per cent stake in Southampton
Asset Management Limited, a company that has been formed to hold the
University's equity stakes in its future spin-out companies. The partnership has
a term of at least 25 years.

IP2IPO entered into its third long-term partnership in May 2003 with King's
College London. IP2IPO will work with King's College London to help identify and
progress commercialisation opportunities as well as invest £5 million in seed
capital in spin-out companies from King's College London over a five year period
in return for equity stakes in those companies. In addition, IP2IPO will receive
20 per cent of King's College London's equity in spin-out companies and
technology licenses. The partnership has an initial term of 25 years.

In October 2003, IP2IPO announced a fourth partnership with the Centre for Novel
Agricultural Products ('CNAP'), based at the University of York. CNAP is a
flagship research centre that specialises in plant and microbial gene discovery.
Under the terms of the partnership a new company, Amaethon Limited, has been
created which has the right to commercialise CNAP's IP for 25 years. IP2IPO has
committed to invest £1.15m in Amaethon Limited in return for a one third equity
stake in Amaethon Limited (the remaining equity being owned by the University of
York) and will also invest in the spin-out companies based on CNAP's IP which
Amaethon Limited creates.



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