IP Group PLC Portfolio co Garrison completes £22.9m financing (9690D)

TIDMIPO

RNS Number : 9690D

IP Group PLC

15 October 2018

 
 FOR RELEASE ON   15 October 2018 
 

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (EU) NO.596/2014.

IP Group plc - Portfolio company Garrison completes GBP22.9m funding round

IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Group"), the developer of intellectual property-based businesses, notes that its portfolio company Garrison Technology Limited ("Garrison" or "the Company"), a specialist provider of ultra-secure web browsing technology, has completed a GBP22.9m fundraising.

The round was led by new investor Dawn Capital (a leading technology investor that previously backed Mimecast, the now $2bn London-based NASDAQ-listed email security company), with further participation from existing investors IP Group, the BGF, and NM Capital. The new funds will be used to expand Garrison's sales and marketing activities, to grow the company's engineering team and to enhance the company's 'safe web browsing as a service' cloud offering.

Following completion of the financing round, IP Group's undiluted beneficial stake of 23.4% in Garrison will be valued at GBP28.8 million, representing an unrealised fair value gain to the Group of GBP15.2 million. IP Group has committed a further GBP3.8 million to Garrison as part of this funding round.

Jon Edington, Partner, Technology, IP Group, said: "Garrison is at the forefront of IT security, with one of the most advanced technologies on the market, and has huge potential for domestic and international expansion. There is strong demand for Garrison's products and this funding will help support the company's rapid growth in the UK, US and other international markets. The Company is led by a top quality, ambitious and commercially minded management team and we look forward to continue working with them."

Garrison's unique technology enables users to access all content on the web without any risk of exposing their organisation to cyber-attack. Instead of relying on a traditional threat detection-based model, it uses a revolutionary technique to place a gap at the most fundamental electronic level between the internet and the end-user's device. This means that malicious web content never comes into contact with the user or their organisation's IT systems.

Ultra-secure government and military customers have been among the first to benefit from the technology, which is now being adopted by mainstream commercial organisations due to its affordability and the increasing cyber threat they are facing.

For more information, please contact:

 
 IP Group plc                            www.ipgroupplc.com 
                                         [phone] 
 Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer 
  Greg Smith, Chief Financial Officer     [phone]/+44 (0) 
  Liz Vaughan-Adams, Communications       7979 853802 
 Charlotte Street Partners 
 Andrew Wilson                           [phone] 
 Martha Walsh                            [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 subsidiaries IP Capital and Parkwalk Advisors), networks, recruitment and business support. IP Group has a strong track record of success and its portfolio comprises holdings in early-stage to mature businesses across life sciences and technology. IP Group is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the code IPO.

Group holdings in portfolio companies reflect the undiluted beneficial equity interest excluding debt, unless otherwise explicitly stated.

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

ENDS

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October 15, 2018 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)