Nexeon raises £30m, plans development lab in Asia

4 May 2016

Imperial Innovations Group plc

Innovations portfolio company Nexeon raises £30 million and plans development lab in Asia

Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO, 'the Group', 'Innovations') announces that portfolio company Nexeon Limited ('Nexeon' or 'the Company') has completed a £30.0 million equity funding round to progress its novel battery materials technology.

Innovations has committed £5.0 million to the round alongside existing investor Invesco Asset Management, as agent for its discretionary managed funds and new investor Woodford Investment Management LLP, as investment manager for certain of its managed funds.

As at 31 July 2015, Innovations had invested £22.4 million in Nexeon with a net carrying value of £34.1 million. As a result of this new investment, Innovations will hold a 33.7% stake in the issued share capital of the Company.

Nexeon is developing battery materials for next generation rechargeable (Li-ion) batteries. Batteries made with silicon anodes have increased capacity, offering the potential for lighter batteries with more energy and a longer lifetime between charges.

Nexeon will use these funds to build a development lab in Asia; to acquire IP and complementary technology to broaden its offering to customers; and to begin work on the design of a larger manufacturing facility.

These initiatives will improve Nexeon's ability to achieve world-leading levels of battery energy density and to satisfy the demand for superior battery performance in applications. These range from smart phones and other mobile consumer devices, to electric vehicles and the large-scale static energy storage of renewable energy.

Russ Cummings, CEO of Imperial Innovations, said:

"Nexeon is one of the pioneers of silicon anodes for lithium ion batteries and has made progress on a number of fronts including fundamental material design.

"Whilst market adoption has been slower than originally anticipated, there are now indications that the pace is accelerating. Nexeon has sold material for niche applications and is actively sampling to lead customers in other application areas.

"This additional funding will allow the Company to establish even closer links with its target markets in Asia, as well as to capture complementary intellectual property. Both of which will help Nexeon to consolidate its position at the forefront of the race to commercialise silicon as an alternative to carbon-based anode systems."

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Notes to editors

About Imperial Innovations - www.imperialinnovations.co.uk 

Imperial Innovations Group plc ("Innovations") creates, builds and invests in pioneering technology companies and licensing opportunities developed from outstanding scientific research from the 'Golden Triangle', the geographical region broadly bounded by London, Cambridge and Oxford. This area has an unrivalled cluster of outstanding academic research and technology businesses, and is home to four of the world's top 10 universities, as well as leading research institutions, the cream of the UK's science and technology businesses and many of its leading investors.

Innovations supports scientists and entrepreneurs in the commercialisation of their ideas, through the licensing of intellectual property, by leading the formation of new companies, by recruiting high-calibre management teams and by providing investment and encouraging co-investment. Innovations remains an active investor over the life of its portfolio companies, with the majority of Innovations' investment going into businesses in which it is already a shareholder.

Since becoming a public company in 2006, Innovations has raised more than £430 million of equity from investors, which has enabled it to invest in some of the most exciting spin-outs to come out of UK academic research. In addition, the Group has agreed £80.0 million in loan facilities from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Between Innovations' admission to AIM (August 2006) and 31 July 2015, Innovations had invested a total of £236.8 million across its portfolio companies, which had raised collectively investment of £1.3 billion.

About Nexeon - www.nexeon.co.uk

Nexeon Ltd. ('Nexeon') is a battery materials company developing silicon anodes for the next generation of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. Nexeon scientists have shown that producing silicon with particular morphologies makes it possible to use it as the battery anode material, and to develop batteries with significant performance advantages over their traditional equivalents.

Nexeon is based in Oxfordshire, and has established a manufacturing facility capable of producing

20 tonnes of material per year. Nexeon also runs a fully instrumented pilot plant, allowing an accurate understanding of the processes and costs associated with making anode materials. The technology has been conceived with a 'drop in' approach, requiring the minimum of changes to an existing Li-ion battery manufacturing operation.

Nexeon views the automotive and consumer electronics sectors as early targets for its technology, and has established relationships with global manufacturers in these sectors.