Leads ?1.2m seed round in Durham Uni spin-out

RNS Number : 8240W

IP Group PLC

06 February 2012

 



 

FOR RELEASE ON

06 FEBRUARY 2012

IP Group plc and The North East Technology Fund lead £1.2m seed round in Durham University spin-out

IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Company" or "the Group"), the developer of intellectual property based businesses, announces that it has led a £1.2m tranched seed financing round into a new spin-out company from Durham University. The Group has committed capital from both its balance sheet and its managed fund, the Finance for Business North East Technology Fund ("The North East Technology Fund").

Durham Graphene Science Ltd ("DGS"), which was founded on research developed by Dr Karl Coleman who won the 2011 Royal Society of Chemistry's 'Chemistry World Entrepreneur of the Year', is developing production technology for graphene which could enable it to be mass-produced for a wide variety of uses across multiple sectors including the automotive, aerospace, electronics and clean tech industries. Graphene has exceptional and unsurpassed properties but has been difficult and extremely costly to produce commercially to date.

IP Group and The North East Technology Fund have each committed £500,000 alongside £200,000 from the Finance for Business North East Proof of Concept Fund, managed by Northstar Ventures. The financing has been committed in two equal tranches, with the second contingent on certain milestones being met. Assuming the second tranche completes, the Group and The North East Technology Fund will each have an undiluted beneficial interest of 22% in DGS.

Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer of IP Group, said: "This is a great example of IP Group leveraging its core model through its managed funds. When we won the mandate to manage The North East Technology Fund in 2010, our vision was that the Group would co-invest alongside the fund in appropriate opportunities. We are delighted that this has led to us making our first investment into a spin-out company from Durham University."

DGS has developed a unique and patent application protected process for synthesizing the material that creates graphene from carbon using sustainable and readily available cheap feed stocks. This 'bottom up' chemical vapour deposition process offers the opportunity for a highly scalable, cost efficient and cleaner manufacturing process in comparison to top-down rival methods based on graphite.

DGS will use the investment to scale up its production equipment and establish joint development agreements with partners to test the handling, dispersion and processing of the material across a wide variety of applications.

Dr Karl Coleman, founder of DGS,said: "Graphene is a breakthrough advanced material that could change hundreds of the products we use in everyday life if this technology can be applied, as we think it can, across pretty much every sector. Effectively the things we use will be stronger, lighter, more flexible, have increased performance and potentially be much cheaper to buy - it's that revolutionary.

"This is going to be a very competitive industry as interest in graphene has grown so we are working to a very aggressive timescale. The pilot production lines are already yielding some exciting results. From our very first discussion, the team at IP Group plc has been great to work with.  Genuinely interested in our work, they have strengthened our knowledge and supported us in the recruitment of a wider team."

For more information, please contact:

IP Group plc	www.ipgroupplc.com
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer	[phone]
Liz Vaughan-Adams, Communications	[phone] / [phone] [e-mail]
FTI Consulting
Ben Atwell, John Dineen	[phone]

Notes for editors

About IP Group

IP Group is a leading UK intellectual property ("IP") commercialisation company, developing technology innovations primarily from its research intensive partner universities. The Group offers more than traditional venture capital, providing its companies with access to business building expertise, networks, recruitment and business support.

The Company's portfolio comprises holdings in over 60 companies including Oxford Nanopore Technologies, the DNA sequencing development company, Revolymer, best known for its removable chewing gum and Xeros, which has received many accolades for its revolutionary clothes washing techniques with a much reduced requirement for water.

The portfolio includes early stage to mature businesses and has exposure to five main sectors - Energy & Renewables, Medical Equipment & Supplies, Pharma & Biotech, IT & Communications and Chemicals & Materials. To date, thirteen of the portfolio companies IP Group has backed have listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and one on PLUS Markets.

Founded in 2001, IP Group listed on AIM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006. The Group now has long-term partnerships with twelve core universities including those under its commercialisation agreement with Fusion IP plc.

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

About The North East Technology Fund

The North East Technology Fund is a £25m venture capital fund dedicated to investing in technology businesses with outstanding potential which are based in, or are willing to relocate to, the North East of England. The Fund is managed by IP Group plc and is backed by the European Investment Bankand European Regional Development Funds. It is able to co-invest with other institutional, private or corporate investors and at all stages of the business cycle from early stage to mature businesses. Its investment range is from £50,000 to £1.25m.

For more information, please visit www.thenortheasttechnologyfund.com.

About DGS

DGS was founded in July 2010 and is currently based at Durham University's Science Site.  It has exclusive access to particular IP related to the production of graphene and has already supplied a number of research laboratories. DGS will use the investment to manufacture larger quantities and thereby help customers truly understand how graphene can be used to improve their products.

About Finance for Business North East

Finance for Business North East is a £125m publicly-backed venture capital fund. It will support up to 850 small and medium-sized companies in North East England over the next five years, with the aim of creating more than 5,000 jobs.

The European Investment Bank is committing £62.5m into the fund with £44.25m coming from the European Regional Development Fund 2007-2013. North East Finance, based in Newcastle, manages the fund on a day-to-day basis.

Finance for Business North East is part of the Government's Solutions for Business portfolio of publicly funded help to companies to start, grow and succeed. Solutions for Business makes it easier for companies to get the advice and assistance that they need. More information on Solutions for Business can be found at www.businesslink.gov.uk/solutions.

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