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October 2006 |
The GEP has gone from strength to strength with some exceptional results during the first six months of the year and key wins waiting in the pipeline. This success can obviously be attributed to our business model and the ability to leverage off our growing reputation among networks in the UK and overseas to deliver our wins. We have also benefited from strengthening the Team with the GEP expansion into Australia; a relaunch in California; and the appointment of Sheetal Mehta as UK Dealmaker. Sheetal's role will be to support, direct and manage our dealflow activity in the UK alongside the expertise and skills of the existing dealmaking capacity. Stuart Ager has also joined us as Network Director on secondment from the Royal Bank of Scotland, and his corporate finance expertise will be of tremendous benefit in supporting deals and developing our network base even further. The response we are receiving to our proposition overseas continues to excite and resonate within the networks. Our activities in India and Australia are continuing to impress both in terms of quality and quantity as small yet ambitious, early stage technology companies become more and more attracted by idea of globalising their business from a UK strategic headquarters. We are particularly pleased that our decision to expand into Australia is already reaping rewards with some excellent deals earmarked for the UK. India has also begun to accelerate further and North America shows no sign of slowing down with some important wins achieved. Notable successes have included Dr Arup Chatterjee, one of India's leading scientists and a leading global authority on nano-metals, who announced in July that he will be establishing the global headquarters of his start-up company, I-can Nano Ltd, in London. The company produces nano-metals at lower cost and higher quality than competitors. In September, California-based Entragrativ, developers of touchless wireless interactive terminals completed its relocation to Cambridge. September also saw Toronto-based Orgmetrics, providers of advanced software solutions for human-resources management establish its global headquarters in Liverpool. The work undertaken last year to establish the GEP Life Sciences Mentoring Programme also began to pay dividends this year with 5 Key life science executives taking up positions with UK start-up companies. We will be replicating last year's successful Boston and New York networking events in support of this Programme, in early November. I am happy to announce the latest in our series of GEP networking events, entitled " Winning in Global Technology Investing " which will take place on Wednesday, December 6 th from 6.30pm at DTI Conference Centre, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET. So please mark your calendars NOW! Finally, as I have said, we have an impressive number of deals in the pipe of which some are "investor ready" and others are not. We are obviously in the process of getting them all to a stage where we can go to the funding networks. This newsletter therefore includes a summary of a number of these upcoming deals and if you would like further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. With 12 wins so far and an impressive number near to closing, we are confident that we will achieve our target of 28 and look forward to continuing to receive your support in doing so. Derek Goodwin, Head of Global Entrepreneur Programme |
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The deal was managed for GEP by Alpesh Patel. ENTRAGRATIV Entragrativ, Inc, California-based company and leader in touch-less wireless interactive terminals for blue-chip companies in the medical, retail, industrial and enterprise markets, completed the relocation of its headquarters, R&D unit and operations to Cambridge to take better advantage of the growing market for advanced interactive terminals in Europe. Entragrativ designs and manufactures "touch-less" interactive terminals for a diverse array of applications, including hospitals and medical centers, as well as high-end multimedia centers for use in hotels and wireless point-of-sale media download terminals in retail markets. Clients include Wal-Mart, Chevron, Stryker, Starbucks and McDonalds and major US universities and research centers, such as Stanford University, University of Minnesota and John Hopkins. The move will create up to 30 jobs immediately and potentially many more when the technology takes off. The deal was managed for the GEP by Peter Holden. ORGMETRICS Toronto-based Orgmetrics a leader in advanced software solutions for the recruitment, retention and development of human capital in the technical and professional service sectors, has established its global headquarters in Liverpool. Orgmetrics is a true pioneer in the US and Canada in using advanced analytics for improved human capital management and already engaged in advanced discussion with several local and pan-European clients. The deal was managed for the GEP by Peter Holden. LIFE SCIENCE MENTORING PROGRAMME Our life sciences dealmaker Toby Wilson Waterworth established this Programme, which is aimed at identifying globally minded , US-based life science entrepreneurs and senior executives who realise that transatlantic relationships between the US and the UK can lead to exciting opportunities on both sides of the pond. Entrepreneurship without borders! This represents a significant opportunity for the UK as they look to take on roles as mentors and non-executive directors for UK life science start up companies.
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Code AUS 11 Australian fish waste recycling company utilising disruptive enzyme based technology to recover high value oils, fertilisers etc from previously dumped waste. Company seeking £750K-£1M and UK roadshow planned early December 2006. Code AUS 12 Early stage Australian company seeking investment to commercialise corneal topography biometric system for wide range of access and security applications. Worldwide patents held. UK roadshow planned Dec 2006. Code USA 07 Early stage California-based company developing highly optimized IP-protected wireless spread spectrum communications technology providing significant improvement in spectrum efficiency, higher resistance to noise and interference and inherent signal security. Code USA 09 California-based company developing IP-protected technology to recycle tyres using environmentally clean process i.e. no chemical residues and allows recycled product to be reused in variety of applications beyond existing crumb technology. Code UK 08 Paris Software company that has developed ASP-based proxy voting system that complies with mandatory EU regulatory requirements in the fund management sector. Seek £900K in two tranches over 2 years to develop structures to take existing sales pipeline to revenue. Product fully developed and company has strong, recurring revenue model.
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November 16 - Networking Reception, Sydney, Australia December 6 -"Winning in Global Technology Investing", London February - Networking/GEP Relaunch, Silicon Valley |
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Having decided to relaunch in California at the beginning of the year, we appointed Ken Cannizzaro as dealmaker for West Coast USA. We then followed this up by expanding into Australia when Anthony Bertini and Andrew Corbett-Jones joined the team. The main goals of both Ken and Anthony/Andrew are to identify clients and make them investor ready, which they have managed to achieve impressively to date. However it was apparent that we needed to provide support for their activities here in the UK by having a UK based dealmaker available to take these clients to the networks and close the deals. I have great pleasure in announcing therefore that we have appointed Sheetal Mehta , as the GEP's UK dealmaker. Sheetal is an international entrepreneur and brings a wealth of expertise to the GEP. She is Founder and CEO of Innovative Social Ventures Ltd, a London based company that provides advisory services to companies in the area of fundraising, technical due diligence and corporate partnering. She was previously Director of VC Relations at Microsoft, a co-founder and Chief Knowledge Economist for Knowledge Dynamics (London) and has experience in providing financial solutions to international banks, VCs, high net worth individuals and corporate clients. Stuart Ager also joined us as Network Director on secondment from the Royal Bank of Scotland in July. Stuart brings a wealth of corporate finance expertise to the HQ, and his post has a wide range of responsibilities including ongoing engagement of the Networks and analysis/advice on all dealflow. fter nearly 2 years with GEP, Peter Holden left us in August to pursue new opportunities managing a London-based global technology fund, and we wish him well. We have therefore recruited Charles Seely , serial entrepreneur and seasoned business advisor, as dealmaker for the East Coast of USA. Charles has successfully built and run numerous multimillion dollar businesses, and brings a wealth of experience in developing and advising early stage companies. The rest of the Team remains the same!
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