Braveheart Investments Regulatory News (BRH)

10 Jan 2008 07:00

Braveheart Investment Group plc10 January 2008 10 January 2008 Braveheart Investment Group plc ("Braveheart" or the "Group") Investment of £2 million in Pyreos Braveheart (AIM: BRH), the technology commercialisation and investmentmanagement company, announces that it has made an investment into Pyreos Ltd("the Company") in partnership with Siemens Technology Accelerator (STA), a 100%subsidiary of Siemens and the Scottish Venture Fund (SVF). The total value ofthe investment is approximately £2 million. Pyreos was formed in July 2007 in Edinburgh, and has been assigned patented IPrelating to infrared sensor materials and devices from Siemens AG, a leadingglobal electronics and engineering company based in Munich. The Companycontinues to have a close working relationship with Siemens, which is helping itbring to market and manufacture the Company's initial range of novel infraredsensor array products. The Company is set to release products targeted at the growing demand forimproved motion detection, infrared camera and spectroscopy products. Thisrepresents an existing, global market opportunity estimated to be valued at over£500 million by 2012. The Company's passive infrared sensor array products offer performanceadvantages over current infrared technology at an attractive price point thatcan also enable the creation of a new range of lower priced infra-red products. Early discussions with OEMs and system integrators have been positive, with anumber testing samples of the Company's first products for specific marketapplications. To date, Pyreos' progress has been backed by the Company founder's and by STA,which commercialises technologies generated within Siemens with the intention ofbringing them to the external market. There is an IP transfer agreement in placebetween Pyreos and STA and the transfer of the technology will take place overthe course of the next year. The proceeds of this round of financing will allow the expansion of theCompany's technical and commercial operations as well as provide funds forcapital equipment to enable product prototyping and manufacturing development. Commenting on the investment, Geoffrey Thomson, Chief Executive of Braveheart,said, "We were delighted to work with STA and Pyreos, settling the new businessin Scotland. The global market for infrared detectors is set to growconsiderably, and we are confident that Pyreos will make an importantcontribution to this market." Jeff Wright, Chief Executive and co-founder of Pyreos, added, "We have worked closely with Braveheart and STA and SVF to put this round of funding in place, which will enable us to accelerate our Company's operations and bring our products to market in a timely manner." Rudolf Freytag, CEO of Siemens Technology Accelerator, said, "In Scotland wefound the ideal mix of strong investors, an excellent management team, and theright high-tech infrastructure to support a new technology company. We areconfident that the Pyreos technology will make an important difference in theinfrared detector and camera markets. Siemens continues to support Pyreos:Christian Wiesinger, CFO of Siemens Technology Accelerator will continue in iscurrent role as a Non-Executive Director for Pyreos. Neil Ross, Director of Scottish Enterprise's Scottish Venture Fund added,"Scottish Enterprise's investment funds, in partnership with the private sector,form the building blocks of funding packages for many Scottish businesses.Pyreos is a great example of how the Scottish Venture Fund, alongside Braveheartand STA, can help grow and retain exciting businesses in Scotland." For further information, contact: Braveheart Investment Group Tavistock Communicationswww.braveheart-ventures.co.ukGeoffrey Thomson Rachel DrysdaleChief Executive Simon HudsonTel: 01738 587555 Tel: 020 7920 3150 rdrysdale@tavistock.co.uk Pyreos Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Venture Fund www.scottish-enterprise.com/equityJeff Wright Ruth AndrewChief Executive Scottish Enterprise Corporate CommunicationsTel: 0131 650 7009 Neil Ross Director, Scottish Venture Fund Tel: 0141 228 2717 ruth.andrew@scotent.co.uk Tel: 0141 228 7443 Notes to Editors Braveheart was formed in 1997 by four Scottish businessmen as a co-investmentvehicle in order to pool their money and knowledge, increase diversification andalso reduce risk. It makes investments in young, emerging, unlisted companies where there ispotential for significant growth, through the successful commercialistion oftheir IP. Typically, Braveheart's investments are focused on British companieswith potential global technology solutions. However, the Group also maintainslimited exposure to more traditional businesses. Braveheart's portfolio ranges from start-up companies to businesses which areclose to an IPO or sale. Each year out of several hundred business plansreceived, around ten investments are made, all of which demonstrate attractiveexit potential. These opportunities emanate from Braveheart's network ofcontacts, which includes the Group's own clients, and close relationships withscience parks and universities. Braveheart has formal relationships with sevenuniversities and two business parks, giving it unique access to IP and start-upcompanies emanating from them. About SiemensSiemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global powerhouse in electronics andelectrical engineering, operating in the industry, energy and healthcaresectors. The company has around 400,000 employees (in continuing operations)working to develop and manufacture products, design and install complex systemsand projects, and tailor a wide range of solutions for individual requirements.For over 160 years, Siemens has stood for technical achievements, innovation,quality, reliability and internationality. In fiscal 2007, Siemens had revenueof €72.4 billion and income from continuing operations of €3.9 billion (IFRS).Further information is available on the Internet at: www.siemens.com. About Siemens Technology Accelerator (STA)STA is a corporate venturing activity of Siemens AG with the focus on externalcommercialization of innovative technologies of Siemens which are not turnedinto products within Siemens itself. Routes to commercialization are spin-off,licensing or sale. STA is a fully owned subsidiary of Siemens AG, a leadingglobal electronics and engineering company with headquarters in Munich, Germany. Since the inception of STA in 2001, several companies have been spun off, Pyreosis the third one in the UK. Others in the UK are Sphere Medical Holding Ltdwhich is based in Cambridge and develops products for blood parametermonitoring, and Axis Three Ltd, based in Belfast, which develops 3D solutionsfor cosmetic and plastic surgery. About PyreosPyreos was founded by Edinburgh based entrepreneurs Jeff Wright, Scott Freeborn,and Carsten Giebeler and Siemens Technology Accelerator in July 2007, to takeadvantage of the growing opportunity for advanced infrared sensor arraytechnology, which has a significant role to play in environmental and securityrelated markets and products. The company aims to become a leading globalsupplier of infrared sensor components based on the unique and patentedthin-film pyroelectric infrared technology that was acquired from Siemens. Thecompany's products are produced using semiconductor processes and can add valueto a range of products including motion detectors; using for reducing energyconsumption, flame detectors; used for improving industrial safety, portablespectroscopy products used for environmental monitoring and infrared camerasused in security and energy monitoring. The company is based at the ScottishMicroelectronics Centre in Edinburgh and has a number of development andmanufacturing partners within the UK and Europe helping bring its products tomarket. About the Scottish Venture FundThe Scottish Venture Fund provides investments of up to £2m per transaction inpartnership with the private sector on at least a matched funding basis insyndicated transactions, typically, between £2m and £10m. Further information onScottish Enterprise investments is available at www.scottish-enterprise.com/equity. About Scottish EnterpriseScottish Enterprise is the main economic development agency for Scotlandcovering 93% of the population from Grampian to the Borders. The ScottishEnterprise Network consists of Scottish Enterprise and 12 Local EnterpriseCompanies. Working in partnership with the private and public sectors theNetwork aims to build more and better businesses, to develop the skills andknowledge of Scottish people, and to encourage innovation to make Scottishbusiness internationally competitive. Further information on ScottishEnterprise is available at www.scottish-enterprise.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange