News and coverage

As the year draws to a close and a new one begins, it is a good time to look back on the momentous year that was 2009.

I would like to thank every member of the EV team and all those who have worked with us for all the effort and hard work this year. There is a long list of achievements.

- The growth achieved this year moves EV towards £70 million funds under management

- EV can now fund up to £2 million, across a broad spectrum of deal categories, anywhere in the UK

- We have launched a bright, new look to our corporate brand

- EV's network has expanded - we now operate from Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Preston

- EV Small Firms has been re-awarded the management contract from Rosebud for a further five years

- The Coalfields Enterprise Fund has also been rewarded for a further five years

- EV has achieved a £20.5 million first closing on the EV Growth Fund / Coalfields Growth Fund, giving SMEs much needed access to capital

- The EV Growth team is expanding, strengthening our geographical presence in the North, the Midlands and, for the first time, the South of England

In such difficult times, it is easy to lose sight of the wealth of opportunities in 2010 for both our private and public sector clients.

It only remains for me to say that our chosen charity this year is McMillan Cancer Support, and EV will make a donation instead of sending printed cards.

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year from the EV team.

Richard Bamford
Executive Chairman

OnState Communications, the leading US provider of on-demand virtual call centre and virtual PBX business communications systems, has announced the addition of the Yuuguu instant screen sharing service to its virtual communications solutions. The addition of Yuuguu into OnState's solution enables sales and support staff and all virtual workers to collaborate by charing screens or even keyboard and mouse control to help demonstrate solutons or solve problems.

"With Yuuguu screen sharing capabilities, OnState users can now conduct virtual sales calls - from anywhere on the world - with visual presentations, product demonstrations and interactive communications", said Pat Kelly, CEO of OnState. " And using real-time screen, keyboard and mouse sharing, support staff can resolve issues, answer questions, and assist customers more efficiently. Best of all, the combined solution is delivered as a secure, device-independent, cloud-based service that requires no installation or embedded applications on the customer side".

In call centre applications, the OnState and Yuuguu solution will simplify and improve agent training and supervision. Supervisors can use screen sharing to instruct or observe remote agents, use voice or text chat to converse with them, and use call logging to audit customer conversations. "Having Yuuguu in our call centre will increase and enhance our real-time collaboration with customers" noted Russ Geoffroy, a US-based global implementation partner and reseller of SAP solutions. "With Yuuguu and OnState, I am one-click away from total collaboration - there are no scheduling issues, no client downloads - essentially no technology barriers to screen sharing that I've experienced with other applications".

"Our partnership with OnState is truly game changing for customer support, collaboration and problem solving", said Anish Kapoor, co-founder and CEO of Yuuguu. "The benefits of instant screen sharing within a virtual call centre not only boost productivity and drive unparalleled customer support, they leverage advanced communications to provide our services at a starting price significantly less then competitive solutions".

EV first invested in Yuuguu Limited in late 2006 via its RisingStars Growth Fund to support the launch of the company's online service and fund further technical development and product launch. It has continued to invest in the company against a number of target milestones.

The newest media phone still relies on technologies developed during the early 20th century. Whilst everything else in telecoms might have changed radically, a vibrating crystal is still used in nearly every electronic device on the planet to provide a stable timing reference.

Yorkshire-based eoSemi has now received its first venture capital investment to bring a new timing device to market, based entirely on silicon circuitry. EV has completed an investment in the company via its RisingStars Growth Fund and alongside the South Yorkshire Investment Fund's Seedcorn Fund.

eoSemi, which is based in the AMP Technology Centre in Rotherham, is a semi-conductor company with a technology to replace quartz crystals in all varieties of electronic systems. The company was founded by Ian Macbeth and three of this colleagues, who all have vast expereince of the semi-condutor industry.

eoSemi has developed a patent pending solution for all-silicon replacement of quartz crystals allowing a move away from physically-vibrating devices, predominantly crystals, with the associated high manufacturing cost, large package size and susceptibility to shock. Moreover, the all-silicon approach allows the timing reference to be incorporated onto the existing silicon of the device for the first time thereby reducing part-count, cost and size further.

The markets to which this new technology could be applied are wide ranging, from consumer goods, industrial & automotive systems and wireless applications, to more basic applications such as clocks and timers.

Jonathan Diggines, CEO at EV, commented, "There aren't many semi-condutor businesses anywhere in the UK, so it is particularly significant to see eoSemi, a company with such potential, developing in the Yorkshire region. We will give eoSemi our full support."

Ed French, Investment Director at EV, commented, "As a specialist technology investor, EV likes to support companies with potential, especially where we are able to get involved at the very earliest stages of development, which is very much EV Tech's focus".

"We believe the company's technology has a bright future, and look forward to continuing to support eoSemi through the challenges of taking its groundbreaking concept through to the commercialisation stage. We are excited by the potential of eoSemi - Ian Macbeth and his team have taken a completely different approach and it has huge potential in a number of market applications".

Ian Macbeth of eoSemi, said, "We approached a number of investors looking for help to explore the potential of our technology. EV provided invaluable assistance in exploring the alternative commercial routes going forward".

"EV's investment has given us the opportunity to commercialise our technology. There are few investors that would have taken such a keen interest in the company and its technology at this proof of concept stage".  

Yorkshire-based EV Tech investee company, Iceotope Limited, has launched its new liquid-cooled server technology as part of a system believed to be the first in the world to use modular "liquid immersion" of the server components, with the potential to reduce datacentre cooling costs by 93% and saving hundreds of thousands of dollars over its lifetime.

The technology was unveiled and demonstrated recently at the Supercomputing 2009 event held in Portland, Oregon.

Operators of traditional air-cooled datacentres have to spend around 30% or more of their electricity costs on cooling. Running the Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) units and the associated refrigeration plants (chillers) is a huge energy burden, increasing costs and carbon output, yet is necessary to chill the large quantities of cold air that must be blown around the data centre to keep the sensitive components inside the servers cool.

To cool a typical air-cooled datacentre, running around 1,000 servers, costs in the region of $800,000 over three years. With the Iceotope system, datacentre operators can reduce or eliminate the requirement to run CRAC units and chillers by directly connecting the liquid-cooled servers to a re-circulating "warm" (rather than chilled) water supply that transfers heat from the servers to the air outside the data centre. Iceotope calls this approach "end to end liquid cooling". In a datacentre in which all servers are cooled this way, the cooling costs can be reduced by as much as 93%.

In addition, by enabling servers to be packed more tightly without compromising the cooling efficiency, the same approach can reduce the space required for the servers by 84% - further reducing cost and improving data centre efficiency.

Dan Chester, CEO of Iceotope, commented, "We have spent 18 months developing this technology in stealth mode, with input from a number of interested customers. We are delighted with the results we are able to achieve and believe that we will see a huge growth in the use of liquid-cooled servers as people see the ease with which these systems can be deployed".

Jonathan Diggines, CEO of EV, said, "The issue of cooling datacentres, and controlling the high energy costs associated with them, has concerned the EV Tech team for some time. Thus we were well aware of the challenges, and were ready to support Iceotope following a rigorous initial assessment, which underpinned EV's belief that Iceotope's novel approach has real potential."

Ed French, EV Investment Director for the deal, commented, "The Iceotope team has done a great job of showing that you can cool servers in a manner which is cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, and has a much lower carbon foorprint. We're excited by the progress and the excellent reception they've had at Supercomputer '09".

EV, via its RisingStars Growth Funds, first invested in the company in early 2008 at the pre-revenue stage to fund practical proof of concept and thermal analysis work to validate the technology and has continued to support the company and provide further investment against target milestones.

EV has announced that it has provided further funding to existing EV Tech investee, Evgen Limited, to develop its novel glucosinolate technology and is pleased to announce the appointment of Barry Clare to the company’s Board as Chairman.

EV, the independent growth and venture capital fund manager, has led a further investment in the company by two of its technology funds: EV’s in-house RisingStars Growth Fund II and South Yorkshire Investment Fund’s Seedcorn Fund. The package also included a significant financial contribution from the company’s management team.

Evgen, which is based in Sheffield, is developing novel glucosinolate-based products for the prevention and treatment of human disease.

Glucosinolates, which are found exclusively in cruciferous vegetables, primarily broccoli, have attracted considerable attention for their chemo-protective properties, as well as their potential to treat a range of other conditions. To date, the commercialisation of pure glucosinolates has been impractical due to the economics and complexity of chemical synthesis or extraction from botanical sources; however, by using industrial biotechnology, protected by a strong intellectual property position, Evgen intends to take leadership in the clinical development and commercialisation of pure glucosinolate compounds and the controlled delivery of their active metabolites for the prevention and treatment of human disease.

As part of the recent funding round, Barry Clare has joined the Company as Chairman. Barry has almost twenty years’ experience in the healthcare industry and was a main board director of Boots Company plc where he was Managing Director of the successful consumer healthcare division, Boots Healthcare International, responsible for the global expansion of brand products such as Nurofen, Strepsils and Clearasil. Since leaving Boots, he has run his own company, Clarat Partners LLP and has engineered several private equity-backed transactions, including the spin-out of Betapharm, a German generics business, eventually sold to Dr. Reddy for £460m. He has recently set up a new over- the-counter business, Healthcare Brands International, and advises technology developers on the commercialisation of their innovations. Barry’s appointment coincides with the repositioning of the corporate strategy which will see Evgen develop as a business-to-business technology company.

Chief Executive of Evgen, Dr Stephen Franklin said, “We are delighted with the support that EV continues to provide at this important stage in the company’s development. It is very unlikely that this business could have existed without their initial vision and support. Our new Chairman, Barry Clare, has played a key role in helping to position the business to maximise the value capture from the intellectual property we already have under license and the new complementary technologies that we are currently appraising and we welcome him to the board”.

Jonathan Diggines, EV Chief Executive, said, “This is another example of a very early stage technology business which EV has funded and supported.  Having Barry Clare on the Board – a man I have known for many years – will help accelerate the development of Evgen.”

Julian Viggars, Head of Technology Investment at EV, commented, “We are excited by the progress at Evgen. EV likes to support companies with great potential, where we are able to get involved at the very earliest stages of development. A key part of our strategy is to find the very best people to help our management teams. I have no doubt that Barry’s involvement will prove exceptionally valuable and reflects the great opportunity that the company now has.”

“This is another good example of EV’s approach to very early stage investing. We originally backed a proven entrepreneur to who had spotted a market opportunity and we provided the original funds to research the marketplace and license in the most appropriate technologies from an extensive global search. With Barry’s appointment we can now move the company on to the next phase of its commercial development. This is a very different approach to backing an existing business with proven technology and market acceptance.”

EV, the UK-based venture and growth capital fund manager, has opened a Birmingham city centre office, to strengthen its presence and build networks in the East & West Midlands and Southern regions.

The office opening, at premises on Temple Row in the heart of the city’s financial district, comes after EV announced that, following recent successful fundraisings, it is now in the market to provide investment of up to £2 million to new and existing SMEs located throughout the UK regions.

Jonathan Diggines, Chief Executive of EV, commented, “EV has been active in the Midlands for some time, and our new Growth Funds are targeting SME investments across the UK. It is therefore a significant step for us to open our office in Birmingham, building on our networks of offices in the North of England.

The recent appointment of Simon Ward, well know in the Midlands as an experienced venture capitalist, further extends our capability, enabling us to identify suitable investment opportunities and to manage them over the years to come”. 

EV, the UK-based venture and growth capital fund manager, has today announced that it has recruited Simon Ward to its investment team.

Simon joins EV as Investment Director and will lead on strengthening the company’s presence and networks in the East & West Midlands and the Southern regions.

He has worked in the Midlands corporate finance market for the last fifteen years and most recently, was an Investment Director with ISIS Equity Partners where, as well as covering the local intermediary market, he led its national sector focus on business services and financial services. Prior to this, he was a founding member of the Catalyst corporate finance team in Birmingham. He qualified as a chartered accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Nottingham and also worked for the leveraged finance team at Royal Bank of Scotland. A graduate of Nottingham University, Simon now lives in Sutton Coldfield.

Jonathan Diggines, Chief Executive at EV, commented, “Simon joins us at a very important time for EV. The launch of our EV Growth Funds is providing much needed equity for SMEs and the recently announced extension of the Coalfields Funds, investing in the former coalfield areas of England, now mean that EV is able to invest up to £2million in equity in a wide range of corporate solutions, anywhere in the UK.

Whilst other venture capital houses are drawing back, EV is growing strongly. We have recently rebranded to signal our growing capabilities and I am really pleased to welcome Simon, whom I have known as an experienced investor, to work from our new Birmingham office, investing throughout the Midlands and Southern England”.

Speaking on his appointment, Simon said, “I am delighted to be joining EV and to continue to build its presence in the Midlands regions. I strongly believe that growing SMEs, entrepreneurs and their professional advisors need more locally delivered funding solutions and I look forward to being able to provide them”.

Simon can be contacted on 07540 014910 and via email at sw@evgroup.uk.com

EV, the UK-based venture and growth capital fund manager, has undertaken a rebranding exercise to reflect its revised UK product offering and new marketing positioning.

The exercise, conducted by London-based creative design agency, Best & Co, sees the company moving towards adopting EV as its main business name, along with a new corporate logo and brand image. The company has also launched a new website at www.evgroup.uk.com. It provides an insight into EV’s core business activities throughout the UK and its refreshing approach to venture and growth capital investing.

Jonathan Diggines, Chief Executive of EV, commented, “EV has a long history. In recent years, the business has been transformed. It has grown to £70 million under management, with specialist fund management expertise in early stage technology businesses, and in the SME sector. It is a business with a new name, a new brand image and a bright future”. 

EV, via its EV Growth Funds, has completed an investment in Intelligent Recording Limited.
 
The company, based in Worksop, designs and develops high quality digital call recording equipment and distributes its products globally to both domestic and commercial customers via a network of resellers, distributors and phone system manufacturers.
 
The funding, provided alongside the company’s bank and its management team, will be used to provide working capital to support the company’s growth plans and further development of its product range.
 
Paul Taberner, Investment Director at EV, commented, “Over the last few years, Intelligent Recording has developed market leading products, with 75% of sales exported. The demand for call recording equipment will continue to grow and we believe Intelligent Recording is well positioned to capitalise on this. We look forward to working with Phil and his team in growing the business over the coming years”.
 
Philip Hill, CEO of Intelligent Recording added, “We’re delighted to be taking on this development capital round from EV. Despite the recession, we’ve seen good sales and margin growth and we’re excited at the business prospects and new portfolio additions we can introduce as a direct result of the investment”.
 
Jonathan Diggines, Chief Executive of EV, commented, “We are pleased to invest in Intelligent Recording Limited. It has the attributes we look for in our investee companies – it develops leading-edge products in a growth market, and has achieved growth in the UK and abroad. Management have done well and are committed to achieving further growth in the business”.

EV, the independent venture and growth capital fund manager, has completed an investment in Tangentix Limited, via its RisingStars Growth Fund.

Tangentix, which is based in Sheffield, has been established to pursue the commercialisation of new technology from the team at the University of Bradford, led by Professor Hassan Ugail. The team has developed a way of handling 3D graphic models which has the potential to improve and enhance the graphics of video games & movies and to change the way they are implemented in consumer electronics. The markets to which this new technology could be applied range from game production and distribution, through to the silicon devices used in computers and consoles.

The funding round was led by EV via its RisingStars Growth Fund and also included investment from South Yorkshire Investment Fund’s Seedcorn Fund.

Ed French, Investment Director at EV, commented, “As specialist technology investors, EV likes to support companies with potential especially where we are able to get involved to help at the very earliest stages of development which is very much RisingStars’ focus”.

“We look forward to continuing to support Tangentix through the challenges of taking its groundbreaking concept through to the commercialisation stage”.

“We are excited by the broad scope and potential value of Tangentix – Hassan and his team have taken a completely different approach and their technology has applications in a number of markets”.

Professor Hassan Ugail commented, “We approached a number of investors looking for help to explore the potential of our technology. EV provided invaluable assistance in exploring the alternative commercial routes going forward, and have helped to identify a number of high calibre and specialised individuals to work alongside the team to help pursue those routes”.

“EV’s investment has given us the opportunity to explore our technology and I really do believe that no other investor would have taken such a keen interest in the company and its technology at this proof of concept stage”.

Enterprise Ventures has recently been awarded several mandates for new funds, bringing funds under management to c.£70 million with the capacity to invest up to £2 million across the UK.

To support the new Enterprise Ventures Growth Fund, two Investment Managers are now required to cover the Midlands, Yorkshire and North Eastern regions.

Candidates should be FSA threshold competent, with a demonstrable investment track record.

This is an outstanding opportunity to join a growing and independent specialist fund manager.

Attractive Package + Bonus

North / Midlands

Interested candidates should send a CV, investment track record and details of current remuneration, quoting reference 7/0310 to Jane Pye at Ashley Hoyle, 2nd Floor, The Graftons, Stamford New Road, Altrincham, Cheshire Tel: 0161 928 5777

EV, the independent growth and venture capital fund manager, has provided further funding via its RisingStars Growth Fund to support Plant Impact plc.

The £1.5 million proceeds from this latest cash placing of 4,850,000 new ordinary shares will be used by the company to support its growth plans and in particular to finance further development and testing of its range of nutrient products to provide further evidence of their efficacy.

It will also be used to finance trials intended to support claims made about the positive environmental impact of the company’s products and to develop data on the wider issues of sustainability and potential for the reduction in the use of water by crop growers, which is expected to involve an increase in the number of field trials to help to ensure that they produce data to acceptable regulatory standards.

This latest funding round will also see the recruitment of additional sales staff to expand the technical sales team with the aim of increasing direct sales in the 15 countries with the company’s products are already being sold and supporting the Arysta LifeScience Corporation sales effort, with which Plant Impact recently signed a licence agreement for its flagship product, BugOil®.

Pete Blezard, CEO of Plant Impact, commented, “With the continuing support of EV and our other current shareholders, we will apply this growth plan fundraising to further the company’s commercial potential. The Directors believe that this placing, along with the recent Arysta licence agreement and improved crop nutrient sales provide a firm foundation for the company’s future”.

Jonathan Diggines, CEO at EV, said, “We have been investors in Plant Impact for five years now, and we are pleased to be able to continue to support this successful Lancashire business”.

Julian Viggars, Head of Technology Investment at EV, commented, “The deal with Arysta provides a clear pathway to market for Bug Oil®”

“The proceeds from this placing will enable the company to properly exploit its other technologies, which in our view will provide substantial further value. EV remains fully supportive of Pete and the team”.

Plant Impact received its initial proof of concept investment from the EV RisingStars Growth Fund in early 2004 to support the development of the company’s intellectual property position and to conduct a series of product trials. EV has provided further funding to support the company’s development both pre and post its 2006 AIM listing.

EV, the independent growth and venture capital fund manager, has led the syndicate of investors backing a new innovative cleaning technology from the University of Leeds.

Xeros Limited is a new company which has developed “virtually waterless” clothes cleaning. Harnessing over thirty years of research at the University of Leeds, Xeros is the brand name for a patented polymer-based cleaning that creates a step change advantage in the cost and environmental impact of aqueous wash cleaning.

Xeros, which has in the last week demonstrated a working prototype at The Clean Show in the United States, has signed a deal with GreenEarth Cleaning, an environmentally friendly dry-cleaning business, to sell the technology across North America, and is aiming initially at the commercial washing market. To see Xeros' demonstration at the show, click here.

The funding round of £920,000, which was led by EV, includes investments from EV’s Rising Stars Growth Fund II, South Yorkshire Investment Fund’s Seedcorn Fund, IP Venture Fund and business angels. The funding will be used to finance the next stage of the company’s development, and to extend discussions with commercial partners.

The company’s washing innovation saves up to 90% of the water compared to conventional laundry systems and gives the same performance as conventional washing. The patented process uses reusable plastic beads alongside detergents, to absorb and remove dirt, and has the potential to provide significant benefits in energy and water efficiency without any compromise to performance.

Julian Viggars, EV’s Head of Technology, commented “Xeros has made a significant technological breakthrough, which could re-define the future of domestic and commercial washing over time; there are huge market opportunities and the company has attracted significant interest to date. We are backing a very good team and are committed to support the company through its commercial discussions over the coming period. “
Edward French, EV’s Fund Manager at SYIF’s Seedcorn Fund said, “The company will move from Leeds to South Yorkshire. Its washing process, which consumes substantially less water, provides substantial operating efficiencies. We see this as an opportunity to nurture and support a new company that has the potential to be a global brand in the region”.

Bill Westwater, Chief Executive of Xeros, commented, “We have an eye on the consumer market but it will take time and we believe success with commercial applications could act as a springboard to move into the consumer market”.

EV, the independent growth and venture capital fund manager, has been re-appointed as Fund Advisor of Rosebud following the awarding of a further five year contract by its client, Lancashire County Developments Limited (“LCDL”).

Rosebud provides loan and equity funding to new and existing SMEs based in the Administrative County of Lancashire and is highly regarded as a model fund of its type. Since its inception some 24 years ago, Rosebud has provided finance to hundreds of the County’s SMEs and continues to invest in and strategically support the region’s new and existing businesses.

Richard Bamford, Executive Chairman of EV, commented, “We are delighted to be re-awarded the management of Rosebud, which for many years has had a highly positive impact upon the economic and regenerative activities in the Lancashire region”.

“During the previous five year contract, and under EV’s management, Rosebud supported 190 Lancashire-based SMEs, investing more than £6.5 million and attracting some £20 million of leveraged funds into the region’s economy. Its investment activities helped to protect almost 1,000 jobs and create a further 750 positions within the County. We are expecting this next five year period to see increased levels of activity and to build on Rosebud’s successes to date”.

“Being re-awarded the management of Rosebud is testament to the talent of the team. It reaffirms EV’s vast experience in working with and investing in regional SMEs at all stages of their development – from seed and start up, through to development capital deals and management buyout opportunities”.

Stephen Dean, Managing Director of Lancashire County Developments Limited, commented, "EV won the European tender to supply this contract and support LCDL investing into local businesses, to both start and grow. This much needed cash through Rosebud and the professional support that comes with it are essential ingredients to help Lancashire businesses fight through the recession."

Rosebud is advised by EV on behalf of Lancashire County Developments Limited, the economic development arm of Lancashire County Council.