Seed funding round for Cambridge spinout Aqdot

RNS REACH

10 December 2013

Imperial Innovations Group plc

Innovations leads seed funding round into Cambridge spinout Aqdot

Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO, 'Innovations'), a leading technology commercialisation and investment group, has led a new seed funding round, investing £350k of almost £1 million ($1.6 million) into Aqdot Limited. Cambridge Enterprise, Parkwalk Advisors, and Providence Investment Company joined Innovations in the investment round.

The funds raised in this round will be used to further the development of the Aqdot technology and partnerships with companies in the selected markets.

Aqdot has developed a proprietary and disruptive chemical encapsulation technology that enables extremely tiny droplets to be produced to carry 'active materials': for example fragrances used in domestic detergents, and agrochemicals for crop treatment. The high stability and robustness of the droplets allows for a finely controlled release of the contained ingredients while using much less encapsulation material than traditional products. In addition to giving value to producers and consumers, the reduction in wasted active materials also yields significant environmental and sustainability benefits.

The company is engaged with a number of interested corporate partners across a variety of industries and is prioritising opportunities in home care, personal care, nutraceuticals and agrochemicals.

The science that underpins Aqdot technology was developed at Cambridge University Department of Chemistry under senior academics Professor Chris Abell and Dr Oren Scherman, both of whom join Aqdot's Scientific Advisory Board. The Cambridge University co-inventors Dr Jing Zhang and Dr Roger Coulston join the company as Director Operations and Chief Scientific Officer, respectively.

Innovations Entrepreneur-in-Residence Dr John Hamlin joins as the launch CEO bringing his 25 years of experience in senior business and technology positions in BP Chemicals. The company has recruited as Chairman, Dr Peter Fields, who, after 20 years at ICI, implemented a buy-and-build strategy as COO to grow European specialty chemical distribution company, Azelis, from €330m to €1.1b in revenue.

Innovations Director Kelsey Lynn joins the Aqdot board of directors.

Kelsey Lynn, Director, Technology Ventures at Innovations, said:

"We are delighted to lead this investment round alongside Cambridge Enterprise and other high quality investors to build a company that can change the landscape of controlled release functionality in encapsulation.

"Aqdot benefits from a wealth of research undertaken at one of the world's leading chemistry departments and is already receiving interest from a variety of large corporates. We are excited to be involved with the company at this early stage in its development."

Roger Coulston, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Aqdot Ltd, said:

"Instead of licensing to industry, we decided to form a company and to commercialize the technology through active industry engagement. We chose as funding partner Imperial Innovations because of their experience and insight in building high-growth companies based on academic research. We look forward to creating early value with this disruptive and novel technology through a number of partnerships in different industry segments."

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Notes to editors

Imperial Innovations - www.imperialinnovations.co.uk 

Since founding in 1986, Innovations has invested in the most promising technologies from our brightest scientists. Today it is connected with four of the world's top research universities: Imperial College London, Cambridge and Oxford Universities and University College London. These centres of scientific excellence between them have a research income of over £1.3 billion per annum. Innovations supports scientist-entrepreneurs in the commercialisation of their ideas. It adds value by leading the formation of new spin-out companies, providing investment, encouraging co-investment as well as through its operational expertise. It also runs an Incubator in London that is the initial home for many of its technology spin-outs.

Originally formed as the Technology Transfer office for Imperial College - a role it still carries out - Innovations is today a significant technology investor and has built a portfolio of around 90 companies. Almost £150m has been invested by Innovations and £0.5bn has been raised in total by the portfolio companies. In 2013, a £30 million loan facility was agreed with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for investment in biotech and therapeutics businesses.

Innovation invests in the most promising opportunities from whichever technology sector they arise and has built particular expertise in the key sectors of: Therapeutics, Medtech and devices, Engineering and materials and ICT.