The university technology commercialisation company IP Group plc is raising £55 million from new and existing investors, allowing it to maintain its holdings in the companies it forms through subsequent funding rounds and increase the level of seed funding available for new start-ups.
The new money also provides scope for IP Group to establish new partnerships or collaborations with universities. At present the London-based company has commercialisation deals with Bath, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Oxford, Southampton, Surrey, and York universities, King’s College London and Queen Mary, University of London, under which it forms and invests in spin-outs. Companies it has formed under the partnership with Oxford, for example, are Crysalin Ltd, Inhibox Ltd, Oxford Advanced Surfaces Group plc; Oxford Catalysts Group plc; Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd; Oxford RF Sensors Ltd; Oxtox Ltd and Pharminox Ltd.
Mike Townend, Director of Capital Markets at IP Group told Science|Business the timing of the share placing is a sign that investors’ appetite for risk is reviving as the financial crisis recedes. Existing shareholders expressed an interest in putting more money in and there is “incoming demand” from would-be investors.
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Author: Nuala Moran
