Investment

Braveheart Investment Group plc 13 February 2008 13 February 2008 Braveheart Investment Group plc ('Braveheart' or the 'Group') Investment in Elonics Braveheart (AIM: BRH), the technology commercialisation and investment management company, announces that it has led a £2 million funding round into Livingston based Elonics Limited. Other investors included the Scottish Venture Fund and private investors Sir Tom Farmer and Brian Souter. Elonics was founded in 2003 and is the developer of 'DigitalTune', a flexible radio tuner chip technology platform that can be configured to support different standards and frequencies for a number of applications. Elonics' DigitalTune technology will initially be used to develop the E4000 chip, a flexible TV tuner for portable and handheld devices such as smart phones, laptops, etc. The market for flexible tuner chips for mobile and handheld devices is currently small but is predicted to grow rapidly over the next few years. Elonics has a comprehensive patent portfolio that places it in a strong position to capitalise on future developments in this fast evolving field. The E4000 is currently undergoing prototype development and evaluation and the funding is designed to provide working capital to enable Elonics to complete the development of the product and take it to market by the third quarter of 2008. Commenting on the investment, Geoffrey Thomson, Chief Executive of Braveheart said, 'Elonics' DigitalTune technology will enable the company to provide a low cost and flexible tuner chip that will place it in an ideal position to take advantage of future growth in the market for mobile TV. The size of the investment we have made demonstrates the confidence we have in the potential of Elonics' technology and management and consolidates Braveheart's reputation as one of the key supporters of innovation in this field.' David Srodzinski, Chief Executive of Elonics, said; 'We have worked tirelessly over the last 3 years to refine our platform CMOS multi-standard RF technology. We have now moved from concept to successful evaluation at multiple prospect sites throughout the world with a multi-standard Tuner product. The funding comes at an excellent time for us as the markets are rapidly growing and prospect feedback is very good indeed'. Neil Ross, head of the Scottish Venture Fund, commented, 'Elonics is an innovative Scottish company capable of becoming a world-leading business. The Scottish Venture Fund co-invests alongside the private sector to encourage more investment in these exciting, growing Scottish companies.' For further information, contact: Braveheart Investment Group Tavistock Communications (for Braveheart) www.braveheart-ventures.co.uk Geoffrey Thomson Rachel Drysdale Chief Executive Simon Hudson Tel: 01738 587555 T Tel: 020 7920 3150 rdrysdale@tavistock.co.uk Elonics Limited Scottish Venture Fund/Scottish Enterprise David Srodzinski Ruth Andrew, Scottish Enterprise Chief Executive Tel: 0141 228 2717 Tel: 01506 402364 Mobile: 07768 615 154 ruth.andrew@scotent.co.uk Notes to Editors Braveheart was formed in 1997 by four Scottish businessmen as a co-investment vehicle in order to pool their money and knowledge, increase diversification and also reduce risk. It makes investments in young, emerging, unlisted companies where there is potential for significant growth, through the successful commercialistion of their IP. Typically, Braveheart's investments are focused on British companies with potential global technology solutions. However, the Group also maintains limited exposure to more traditional businesses. Braveheart's portfolio ranges from start-up companies to businesses which are close to an IPO or sale. Each year out of several hundred business plans received, around ten investments are made, all of which demonstrate attractive exit potential. These opportunities emanate from Braveheart's network of contacts, which includes the Group's own clients, and close relationships with science parks and universities. Braveheart has formal relationships with seven universities and two business parks, giving it unique access to IP and start-up companies emanating from them. About Elonics Elonics was founded in September 2003 to specialise in the development of RF/ Mixed Signal silicon chips for global high-volume markets. Elonics RF IC's are the most cost-effective in the market today. This is because all of our products are designed using sub-0.13um geometry CMOS technology and use the DigitalTune approach to deliver additional cost, power, performance and size advantages over competitors products. E4000 family of tuner ICs, enables efficient access to mobile TV over a wide variety of standards such as DVB-T, ISDB-T, T-DMB, DVB-H, ISDB-H (OneSeg), DMB-T, DAB and FM Radio. With its state of the art RF solutions Elonics is committed to enabling 'TV anytime anywhere'. www.elonics.com About the Scottish Venture Fund The Scottish Venture Fund provides investments of up to £2m per transaction in partnership with the private sector on at least a matched funding basis in syndicated transactions, typically, between £2m and £10m. Further information on Scottish Enterprise investments is available at www.scottish-enterprise.com/ equity. About Scottish Enterprise Scottish Enterprise is the main economic development agency for Scotland covering 93% of the population from Grampian to the Borders. The Scottish Enterprise Network consists of Scottish Enterprise and 12 Local Enterprise Companies. Working in partnership with the private and public sectors the Network aims to build more and better businesses, to develop the skills and knowledge of Scottish people, and to encourage innovation to make Scottish business internationally competitive. Further information on Scottish Enterprise is available at www.scottish-enterprise.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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