Lord Sainsbury Addresses Venture Capitalists and University Science and Technology Spinout Companies

Lord Sainsbury Addresses Venture Capitalists and University Science and Technology Spinout Companies

[Posted on 20 October 2006]

New technology and science companies from the University of Bristol were showcased to over 150 investors at the SETsquared Partnership Investment Showcase held in London with Lord Sainsbury, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science and Innovation, as the keynote speaker.

To date, the SETsquared Partnership, the enterprise collaboration of the universities of Bath, Bristol, Southampton and Surrey, has helped new external ventures to raise more than £25 million of early stage funding and raised over £45 million of follow-on funding for university spinouts. Focusing on high quality companies results in excellent returns and the flotation of four SETsquared university spinout companies since the start of 2002 has created a combined market capitalisation of over £160 million.

Commenting on the event, Lord Sainsbury said: "The Government's vision for the UK is that we should be a key hub in the global knowledge economy - with a record of discovery and innovation; a country which invests heavily in business research and development, education and skills, and exports high-tech goods and services to the world."

"To this end, we strongly support university research and its commercialisation and the UK's university-grown science and technology businesses. The four universities of the SETsquared Partnership, which started as a Government-sponsored initiative to promote enterprise, are advancing their global resaerch and capable of attracting venture capital."

The showcase, the culmination of a programme to support and encourage potential high tech, high growth technology companies and science-based university spinouts, brought a wealth of opportunities to the attention of invited venture capitalists, high net worth individuals and sophisticated investors.

Mr Francis A.W.Carpenter, Chief Executive of the European Investment Fund also spoke at the SETsquared Partnership Investment Showcase, addressing globalisation opportunities and challenges for university enterprise.

University of Bristol Showcase Spinouts

The Buildersite - University of Bristol Business Acceleration Centre Member

The Buildersite provides an online venue for construction companies to hire tradesmen directly, and enable homeowners to search for suitable builders using a combination of price, skill and feedback from previous customers. The website and database integrate with an SMS system which notifies the selected parties of job offers.

Fertility Focus Ltd- University of Bristol spinout

A medical device company with three technologies to improve pregnancy reates: a market-ready product that enables non-traumatic laparoscopic diagnosis and surgical rectification of internal abnormalities: a monitoring system to diagnose hormonal abnormalities and provide improved predication of the fertile period: a novel and improved system for sorting viable from dead sperm.

For further information, please contact:

Clare Wyatt
Press Officer, SETsquared Partnership
Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 5686, mob: +44 (0) 7795 304 430, e-mail: clare.wyatt@setsquared.co.uk
www.setsquaredpartnership.co.uk