2nd November 2010
A new initiative to assist growing companies in the Solent region looking for business development funding was launched at the Collaborate2Innovate 2010 event today. The universities of Portsmouth and Southampton announced that they have signed a sponsorship deal with Oxford Innovation to support investment network meetings and investor training workshops in Portsmouth and Southampton from next year.
The aim of the collaboration is to assist local companies by providing access to funding from high net worth individuals (‘business angels’) who are members of Oxford Innovation’s investment networks and to facilitate involvement by prospective local investors. The longer term objective is to work with local partners to establish a new Solent investment network.
The deal builds on Oxford Innovation’s existing presence in the region where it manages two innovation centres for start-up and growing companies - the highly successful Portsmouth Technopole and the newly constructed Ocean Village Innovation Centre, Southampton, which is set to open for business during November.
The University of Portsmouth has a proud tradition of helping businesses succeed. It established Purple Door in 2005 as a one-stop shop to make it easier for the business community to gain access to the research, knowledge and expertise of the University. Over the last 12 months the University has seen its work with business increase by 42 per cent and is increasingly regarded as a provider of high impact outsourced research and development. The University supports a broad base of business customers, ranging from blue chip multi-nationals through to high growth start-up companies.
The University of Southampton has a strong commitment to developing local business and has already established successful schemes such as the SETsquared Business Acceleration Programme, which has incubated over 30 companies. In 2010 alone, these companies have raised £9.2 million of investment. A classic example of a company that has benefited from the Programme is Ilika plc, which floated on AIM during May at a market capitalisation of £18.7m and employs over 30 people. Ilika identifies and scales up materials for use in commercial applications such as longer lasting batteries and more efficient sensors.
The sponsorship deal will see the universities provide support for two of Oxford Innovation’s investment networks: Thames Valley Investment Network (TVIN), which helps companies secure funding from £150,000 to £750,000 and includes a focus on the clean tech and creative and new media sectors and Oxford Early Investments, which assists early stage companies with proof of concept funding from £25,000 to £250,000.
Speaking at the Collaborate2Innovate event, Don McLaverty, joint managing director of Innovation Services at Oxford Innovation, said: "Oxford Innovation is committed to working with local partners, including the universities, Portsmouth City Council, Partnership for Urban South Hampshire, Solent Synergy, the Solent Innovation and Growth Team and SetSquared to support the growth of companies here.
"We are delighted to welcome the universities of Portsmouth and Southampton on board as prestigious new sponsors of both the TVIN Network and Oxford Early Investments.
"This deal will enable us to provide a high quality service for investors and companies in the Solent region and we hope that it will be the starting point for a new local investment network. We are in discussion with additional sponsors interested in supporting this initiative and welcome enquiries from organisations that would like to get involved.
"We look forward to welcoming local companies, prospective investors and partners to our first investor training workshop in Portsmouth on 30 March 2011 and our investment network meeting on 6 April in Southampton."
Mark Baker, head of research and knowledge transfer services at the University of Portsmouth, said: "TVIN and Oxford Early Investments provide a unique and compelling service to early stage and growing companies. The combination of investors offering funding and experience and sponsors and partners offering access to business support services provides these businesses with a stable platform for the next phase of their development. There is a particularly good match between TVIN and our focus on delivering support for high growth companies, and we look forward to working with the investment networks on meetings in our region."
Dr Tony Raven, director of research and innovation services at the University of Southampton, said: "Innovation is the engine of our economy and the Solent region is a hotbed of entrepreneurs with innovative new technologies and ideas. By linking with Oxford Early Investments and TVIN, we will be able to provide these start-up companies with direct access to investors which will help accelerate their growth and the growth of the local economy. And in the longer term, we hope to establish a local investment network."
To register for the investor training workshop on 30 March 2011 in Portsmouth and/or the investment meeting on 6 April 2011 in Southampton or to find out more about sponsorship opportunities, contact Eileen Modral, investment networks manager, on Tel: 01865 811143 or Email: e.modral@oxin.co.uk
