Touchstone Innovations PLC Innovations leads £12m funding round in Garrison (5347Y)

TIDMIVO

RNS Number : 5347Y

Touchstone Innovations PLC

06 March 2017

6 March 2017

Touchstone Innovations plc

Innovations leads GBP12.0m funding round in Garrison Technology

Touchstone Innovations plc (AIM: IVO, 'the Group', 'Innovations') has led a GBP12.0m funding round in Garrison Technology Limited ('Garrison' or the 'Company') a cyber security company based in London. Innovations has committed GBP3.85m to the round alongside BGF Ventures, NM Capital and existing angel investors.

Innovations first invested in Garrison in 2015 and following this new investment, now holds a 22.5% stake in the Company. Garrison has progressed rapidly, attracting new investors pricing this round at a significant uplift in valuation. This is likely to result in a net fair value gain on Innovations' existing investment of ca. GBP3.0 million.

Garrison is addressing the large and growing enterprise cyber security market estimated to be worth $23bn and growing at 10% CAGR. The Company has developed an anti-malware product that effectively blocks the highest impact cyber threats to modern organisations, i.e. internet-borne targeted attacks. Garrison's unique technology enables a previously unachievable blend of ultra-secure internet connectivity, user experience and enterprise scalability.

The Company was founded by an experienced team of cyber security professionals from Detica Group plc, the security focused technology group that was acquired by BAE Systems plc in 2008. CEO Dave Garfield formerly started and ran Detica's Cyber Security division, growing the business rapidly before leaving to start Garrison Technology in 2014. Co-founder and CTO, Henry Harrison, was a senior technology strategy Director at BAE Detica.

The new funding will enable the company to accelerate product development and commercialisation, continuing to grow its high-calibre team in advance of formally launching its product to market.

Jon Edington, Director Technology Ventures at Touchstone Innovations, said:

"Almost daily we read how major enterprises and governments are suffering from targeted and high-impact cyber-crime. Garrison's solution directly addresses this problem with an innovative and differentiated technology that has been shown to effectively remove whole classes of cyber threat.

"The Company is led by a top quality, ambitious and commercially minded management team, operating in a high growth global market, so all of the key ingredients are in place to enable us to build a substantial business."

For further information contact:

 
   Touchstone Innovations plc                      020 3053 8834 
   Russ Cummings, Chief Executive Officer 
   Jon Davies, Director of Communications 
 
   Instinctif Partners                             020 7457 2020 
   Adrian Duffield/Melanie Toyne-Sewell/Chantal 
    Woolcock 
 
   J.P. Morgan Cazenove (Nominated Adviser)        020 7742 4000 
   Michael Wentworth-Stanley/Alec Pratt 
 
   RBC Capital Markets                             020 7653 4000 
   Darrell Uden/Marcus Jackson/Laura White 
 

About Touchstone Innovations - www.touchstoneinnovations.com

Touchstone Innovations plc (formerly Imperial Innovations Group plc or just "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 protecting and licensing out intellectual property (through its Technology Transfer subsidiary, Imperial Innovations), 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 GBP440 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 GBP80.0 million in loan facilities from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Between Innovations' admission to AIM (August 2006) and 31 July 2016, Innovations has invested a total of GBP306.7 million across its portfolio companies, which have collectively raised investment of GBP1.5 billion.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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March 06, 2017 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)