Fusion IP, the university IP commercialisation company that turns research into business, has successfully raised £3.2m to continue investing in its university spin-out companies.
The fundraising is subject to shareholder approval at a general meeting in December. The company has also entered into a co-investment agreement with the IP Group that will combine the knowledge and resources of IP Group and Fusion to evaluate and assist new companies.
Fusion IP has a 10-year agreement with Sheffield University, under which it has exclusive rights to commercialise all of the university´s intellectual property through licensing or the creation of spin-out companies in fields as varied as alternative energy, drug discovery and engineering.
Fusion currently has a portfolio of 20 active spin-out investments, including companies such as Simcyp, which has reported its fifth consecutive year of revenue and profit growth with revenues up by 24 per cent to £3.9m and profits up by 26 per cent to £1.2m this year alone.
‘We are expecting to spin out up to three new companies during the period ending July 2010 and anticipate spinning out further companies in 2011 and 2012. The funds raised today will allow us to continue this momentum to spin out further portfolio companies,’ said David Baynes, chief executive officer of Fusion IP.
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