Portfolio co Creavo completes £13.4m funding round

RNS Number : 8449J

IP Group PLC

03 July 2017

 

FOR RELEASE ON

3 July 2017

IP Group plc - Portfolio company Creavo Medical Technologies completes £13.4m funding round

IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Group"), the developer of intellectual property-based businesses, is pleased to note that its portfolio company, Creavo Medical Technologies Limited ("Creavo" or "the Company"), has completed a fundraising of £13.4 million.

The round was oversubscribed, exceeded Creavo's funding target and was strongly supported by existing shareholders including the University of Leeds, and new, private and institutional investors from Europe, the USA and China, including Parkwalk Advisors Ltd (the leading EIS fund manager specialising in UK university innovation) and Puhua Capital Ltd, a leading Venture Capital firm in China with a strong presence in the healthcare sector.

The funding will be used to continue growing the Creavo business and moving towards a full commercial launch in Europe including concluding its clinical study in the UK, building its US operation and associated clinical study and conducting further research to expand the use of its technology into other applications.

Creavo, a spin-out from the University of Leeds, is a UK-based med-tech company that has developed a uniquely deployable diagnostic technology, using magnetocardiography (MCG) to measure, display and store electromagnetic fluctuations caused by heart activity, using extremely sensitive detectors. It is estimated that its Vitalscan device, which can more accurately 'rule out' heart-related problems at point of admission to emergency departments, could save the NHS £200 million a year.

Creavo's core technology has a range of potential applications outside of emergency detection and diagnosis, and could play a large role in helping to better understand and predict the arrhythmias that can result in sudden cardiac death, as well as further diagnostics in other organs.

Following completion of the financing round, IP Group's direct undiluted beneficial stake of 35.1% in Creavo Medical Technologies Ltd is valued at £12.8 million and IP Venture Fund II's 13.1% stake is valued at £4.8 million. The fundraising has resulted in a direct unrealised fair value gain to IP Group of £4.1 million and a fair value gain of £1.4 million to IP Venture Fund II. As a result of the Group's 33% limited partnership interest in IP Venture Fund II, its effective beneficial interest in Creavo Medical Technologies is approximately 39.4% and the net fair value gain is £4.6 million. IP Group and IP Venture Fund II committed £2.8 million and £1.2 million respectively to the fundraising.

Creavo's Vitalscan device works by conducting a non-invasive three to five-minute scan at a patient's bedside to rule out significant cardiac conditions, such as heart attacks. It is currently being trialled at four of the UK's largest emergency departments (Bristol, Nottingham, Leicester and Sheffield).

Vitalscan is a battery-powered, portable medical device that uses advanced quantum principles to measure, display and store electromagnetic fluctuations caused by heart activity. Early indications from smaller sets of clinical trials indicate that the device can accurately and quickly rule out significant ischaemic heart disease with near 100% accuracy through a simple, non-invasive three to five-minute scan at a patient's bedside.

The funding round was advised by IP Group's 100%-owned FCA-authorised subsidiary IP Capital.

For more information, please contact:

IP Group plc	www.ipgroupplc.com
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer Greg Smith, Chief Financial Officer Liz Vaughan-Adams, Communications	[phone] [phone]/[phone]
Charlotte Street Partners
Andrew Wilson	[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 approximately 100 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.

About Creavo Medical Technologies Ltd

Creavo Medical Technologies Ltd is a UK-based, privately held medical device company that is developing innovative diagnostic techniques. The company was formed in 2014 to bring to market ground-breaking technology developed by Professor Ben Varcoe, Chair of Quantum Information Science at Leeds University. It has facilities in Leeds and Coventry, UK. Focused on improving front line patient care in acute medical settings, Creavo's first application of this technology is the Vitalscan - a device that meets an urgent clinical need in global cardiology to more accurately 'rule out' heart-related problems at point of admission to emergency departments. Vitalscan is a battery-powered, portable medical device that uses advanced quantum principles to measure, display and store electromagnetic fluctuations caused by heart activity. Early indications from smaller sets of clinical trials indicate that the device can accurately and quickly rule out significant ischaemic heart disease with near 100% accuracy through a simple, non-invasive three to five-minute scan at a patient's bedside.

For more information about Creavo, please visit: http://www.creavomedtech.com/.

About Parkwalk

Parkwalk invests in high growth, knowledge intensive companies seeking to develop and commercialise technology and innovation originating from UK universities, research intensive institutions and technology clusters. Founded in 2009, Parkwalk is the largest EIS growth fund manager focused on university spin-outs, having raised over £125m to date and backed over 75 companies across its managed funds since inception. In February 2017 Parkwalk was acquired by IP Group plc, the UK's leading developer of intellectual property-based businesses. The Parkwalk investment vehicles include the evergreen Parkwalk Opportunities Fund, the University of Cambridge Enterprise Funds, the University of Oxford Innovation Funds and the University of Bristol Enterprise Funds.

For further information please see www.parkwalkadvisors.com.

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