IP Venture Fund

IP Group PLC
10 July 2006


For Immediate Release                                               10 July 2006

                                  IP Group plc

                         ('IP Group' or the 'Company')

                       IP Group launches IP Venture Fund


IP Group plc (LSE: IPO), the intellectual property commercialisation company, is
delighted to announce that it has established a new venture capital fund in
partnership with the European Investment Fund, one of the leading venture
capital investors in Europe.

The IP Venture Fund (the 'Fund') will seek to attract total commitments of up to
£30 million and has had a first closing of £15.5 million including a commitment
of £1.4 million from IP Group.

The Fund will be managed by Top Technology Ventures Limited, the venture capital
fund management subsidiary of IP Group, and will commit in the region of 25% of
the amount of post-seed financings of IP Group portfolio companies alongside
capital committed by external investors, subject to the terms of the Fund.

The Fund will also have the ability to invest alongside IP Group in
seed-financings as part of future IP Group university partnerships, subject to
the agreement of the relevant universities.

Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive of IP Group, said: 'The European Investment Fund is
one of the leading venture capital investors in Europe and has a similar view to
IP Group of the investment potential and importance of successful intellectual
property commercialisation. We are delighted to have established IP Venture Fund
with support from the EIF and look forward to working together in the future.'


For further information about IP Group plc please contact:

IP Group plc                                    020 7489 5200
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer
Magnus Goodlad, Executive Director
Liz Vaughan-Adams (Communications)

KBC Peel Hunt Ltd                               020 7418 8900
Megan Macintyre

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


Notes for Editors

About IP Group

IP Group Plc is an intellectual property (IP) commercialisation company that
specialises in commercialising university technology. Founded in 2001, IP Group
listed on AiM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006. It
has made two acquisitions to date - Techtran, a company set up to commercialise
university intellectual property under a long term contract with the University
of Leeds, in 2005 and Top Technology Ventures, an investment adviser to early
stage technology venture capital funds, in 2004.

The group has formed long-term partnerships with seven universities - University
of Oxford, King's College London, CNAP/University of York, University of Leeds,
University of Bristol, University of Surrey and University of Southampton.

As at 13 June 2006, 42 spin-out companies had been created among the group's
university partners. Of those, seven have listed on the AiM market of the London
Stock Exchange and there has been one trade sale.

For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com


About the European Investment Fund

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is the EU specialized vehicle providing
venture capital and guarantee instruments for SMEs. The EIF is a European
institution whose main objective is to support the creation, growth and
development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). It intervenes by means
of risk capital and guarantee instruments, using either its own funds or those
available within the framework of mandates entrusted to it by the European
Investment Bank (EIB) or the European Union.

The EIF has a tripartite shareholding, which includes the EIB, the European
Union represented by the European Commission, and a number of European banks and
financial institutions, from the public or private sector. The EIF acts in a
complementary role to its majority shareholder, the EIB.

www.eif.org


                                      ENDS



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