IP Group PLC Two US portfolio companies raise £5.4m ($6.8m)

TIDMIPO

IP Group PLC

06 February 2017

 
 FOR RELEASE ON   06 February 2017 
 

IP Group plc - US portfolio companies Exyn Technologies and Uniformity Labs complete GBP5.4m* ($6.8m) fundraisings

IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Group"), the developer of intellectual property-based businesses, is pleased to note that its first two portfolio companies from US university partners, Exyn Technologies and Uniformity Labs, have raised a combined GBP5.4m* ($6.8 million) in new post seed financing rounds via private placement of ordinary shares.

Exyn Technologies develops fully autonomous aerial robot systems with multi-modal sensing capabilities to enable robust and reliable applications in the commercial market. Exyn is a spin-out from the University of Pennsylvania and was founded by Dr. Vijay Kumar, the Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering and former Director of the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing & Perception (GRASP) Laboratory at Penn.

Uniformity Labs, a spin-out from Princeton University, is accelerating and expanding the adoption of industrial additive manufacturing (AM) by providing breakthrough materials, software and services. Uniformity Labs' proprietary materials and process technology have the potential to deliver improvements in AM printed part quality and reproducibility, print speed, and material diversity across all mainstream printing platforms.

Following completion of the financing rounds, IP Group's combined undiluted beneficial stake in Exyn Technologies and Uniformity Labs will be valued at GBP7.9 million* ($9.9 million). IP Group has committed a further GBP2.9 million* ($3.7 million) to Exyn Technologies and Uniformity Labs as part of these funding rounds which included both new and existing US and UK based investors. The Uniformity Labs transaction completed at the end of 2016 while the Exyn transaction closed in 2017.

Michael Burychka, IP Group Managing Director, North America, said: "These financing rounds for Exyn Technologies and Uniformity Labs provide further market validation of the maturation and quality of our growing portfolio of businesses in the US. We continue to see a strong pipeline of future opportunities at our US partner institutions and increasing support for our US portfolio from a growing base of investors."

Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer of IP Group plc, said: "Exyn Technologies and Uniformity Labs are great examples of the unique and innovative technology, based on ground-breaking science, that IP Group seeks. We look forward to supporting them and to furthering our partnerships and portfolio in the US."

IP Group has IP commercialisation partnerships with the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University focused on developing early-stage, proof of principle opportunities based on intellectual property and entrepreneurial opportunities of mutual interest. The Group also has agreements with Columbia University, the University of Washington and FedIMPACT which identifies and develops early-stage technologies from a select group of US Department of Energy Laboratories.

*Calculated using an exchange rate of GBP1 to $1.26.

For more information, please contact:

 
 IP Group plc                          www.ipgroupplc.com 
 Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive 
  Officer                              [phone] 
  Greg Smith, Chief Financial 
  Officer                               [phone]/+44 
  Liz Vaughan-Adams, Communications     (0) 7979 853802 
 Charlotte Street Partners 
  - UK 
 Andrew Wilson                         [phone] 
 S360 Advisors - US 
 Frank De Maria                        [phone] 
 

Notes for editors

About IP Group

IP Group is a leading intellectual property commercialisation company which focuses on evolving great ideas, mainly from its partner universities, into world-changing businesses. The Group has pioneered a unique approach to developing these ideas and the resulting businesses by providing access to business building expertise, capital (through its 100%-owned FCA-authorised subsidiary IP Capital), networks, recruitment and business support. IP Group has a strong track record of success and its portfolio comprises holdings in approximately 80 early-stage to mature businesses across four main sectors -- Biotech, Cleantech, Healthcare and Technology. The Company is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the code IPO.

For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com.

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