Imperial Innovations Group Regulatory News (IVO)

18 Oct 2006 07:00

Imperial Innovations Group plc18 October 2006 Imperial Innovations Group plc ("Imperial Innovations") New Low Carbon Seed Fund Launched Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO), one of the leading technologytransfer and commercialisation companies in the UK, today announces a new £2million fund, The Low Carbon Seed Fund, which has been established through £1million from Imperial Innovations that was funded by a grant from ShellFoundation and through £1 million from The Carbon Trust. The fund will invest in early stage UK companies which aim to develop clean oralternative energy technologies, including wind power, solar power, tidal power,fuel cells, biofuels and new materials. As part of the agreement, Imperial Innovations will use its expertise to selectpotential opportunities that will fulfil the fund's investment criteria and willprepare investment proposals for the fund's selection. Investments will rangebetween £50,000 and £250,000 and will usually be made at the seed or first stagefinancing rounds. Susan Searle, CEO of Imperial Innovations said: "The launch of The Low Carbon Seed Fund is a very exciting opportunity forcompanies, in the Imperial Innovations spin-out portfolio and the widerrenewable energy sector, that are seeking investment. We are delighted to workwith two such highly regarded organisations and look forward to managing thepipeline of investment propositions." Chris West, Deputy Director of Shell Foundation said: "Despite the overall abundance of investment in the low carbon sector, there isa gap in the availability of skills and capital to support innovativegrowth-orientated companies at seed funding stage. Shell Foundation is pleasedto partner with Imperial Innovations and The Carbon Trust in an effort to fillthis gap. We look forward to working with Naiem Hussain of Imperial Innovations,in his role as fund services manager". Jonathan Bryers, Partner at Carbon Trust Investments, said: "The Low Carbon Seed Fund is an extension of the ongoing investment activitiesof the Carbon Trust. We have been investing in early stage clean technologiesfor more than four years, demonstrating that this sector offers significantbusiness and investment opportunities. This fund will invest at seed fundingstage into exciting clean energy technology companies with commercial potentialand will be a natural investor for companies emerging from the Carbon TrustIncubator Programme. Taking these ideas from prototype to mass market isessential if we are to create a low carbon economy in the UK." -End- For more information contact: Imperial InnovationsSusan Searle, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0)20 7594 6591Lucy Ahfong, Marketing Officer +44 (0)20 7594 6644 M:CommunicationsPatrick d'Ancona / Eleanor Williamson +44 (0)20 7153 1539 The Shell FoundationSimon Bishop +44 (0)20 7934 2097(simon.bishop@shell.com) The Carbon TrustThe Carbon Trust press office +44 (0)20 7544 3100________________ Notes to Editors About Imperial Innovations Imperial Innovations is one of the UK's leading technology transfer andcommercialisation companies. The company was founded in 1986 and its ordinaryshares admitted to trading on the AIM Market of London Stock Exchange plc inJuly 2006, raising £26 million. The company's integrated approach encompassesthe identification of ideas, protection of intellectual property, developmentand licensing of technology and formation, incubation and investment in spin-outcompanies. A wide range of technologies are commercialised within the areas ofhealthcare, energy, environment and emerging technology trends. Based at Imperial College London, the company has established equity holdings in58 spin-out companies and has completed 90 commercial agreements. ImperialInnovations also commercialises technologies originating from outside ImperialCollege through incubation contracts with the Carbon Trust and WRAP and hasrelationships with a number of multinational corporations. Imperial Innovations has invested in a range of spin-out companies including TheAcrobot Company Limited, Cardiak Limited, deltaDOT Limited, Future Waves PTELimited, HeliSwirl Technologies Limited, InforSense Limited, Lontra Limited,Midaz Lasers Limited, NanoBioDesign Limited, Nexeon Limited, NovaThera Limited,Photobiotics Limited, Thiakis Limited and Veryan Medical Limited. Imperial Innovations currently holds shares in three spin-out companies nowlisted on AIM; fuel cell company, Ceres Power plc, and ParOS plc, a provider ofenergy-saving advanced control solutions, as well as Nanoscience plc, adeveloper of low power integrated circuits and silicon chips, following itsacquisition of spin-out company Toumaz Technology Limited. Website: www.imperialinnovations.co.uk About Shell Foundation Shell Foundation is an independent, UK based charity, established in 2000 todevelop and take to scale sustainable solutions to social problems arising fromthe links between energy and poverty, energy and the environment and, the impactof globalisation on vulnerable communities. Through a business-based approach,the Foundation works with strategic partners to deliver self-financing solutionswith measurable social and environmental benefits that can be scaled up toachieve large scale impact. Website: www.shellfoundation.org About The Carbon Trust • The Carbon Trust works with UK business and the public sector to cut carbon emissions and develop commercial low carbon technologies. An independent company set up by Government to help the UK meet its climate change obligations, the Carbon Trust creates practical business-focused solutions to carbon emission reduction on energy efficiency, carbon management, and investment. • The Carbon Trust's annual funding is in excess of £105m in grants from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and Invest NI. • For more information on the Carbon Trust visit www.carbontrust.co.uk or call the Carbon Trust on 0800 085 2005. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange