10% Stake Taken in FootFall Ltd
NewMedia SPARK PLC
17 April 2000
NewMedia SPARK invests £1,200,000 for a 10% stake in FootFall
Ltd,
as part of a £5m investment alongside Quester, Advent Venture
Partners and Abbey National Treasury Services
NewMedia SPARK plc ('SPARK') announces that it has invested
£1,200,000 in FootFall Ltd as lead investor of a £5m funding.
The other members of the investor syndicate are Quester VCT 2
plc, Quester VCT 3 plc, Advent Venture Partners and Abbey
National Treasury Services and Enterprise VCT.
Key Points:
* FootFall is a leading global supplier of people counting
technology and data to the shopping centre and retail industry
and has numerous blue-chip clients.
* FootFall was founded in 1991 by John Gallagher and Brian
Barnes, who had spotted a gap in this market for the accurate
reporting of consumer movement and related data services.
* FootFall installs miniaturised video cameras in discreet
locations within shopping centres and retail spaces and
collates the data from these cameras via the Internet.
Footfall uses this data to produce accurate reports and
industry benchmarks. This information is valuable to landlords
and retail managers and has many applications, including among
others, income maximisation, strategic planning, cost
management and rent setting
* FootFall supplies over 50% of the computerised counting
solutions in the UK Shopping Centre market, is the largest
supplier of counting solutions in Europe and has installed the
five largest counting systems in the world
* FootFall has made installations throughout the UK and
across Europe, Israel, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Dubai, Australia and
New Zealand.
* FootFall has never raised outside funding before and has
been profitable every year since launch.
Andrew Carruthers, COO of SPARK, will join the board as a Non-
Executive director. Commenting on this investment, he said:
'We are particularly impressed with FootFall s management and
their achievement in dominating the European market for
counting solutions without any form of outside financing. We
believe the market for counting data is still in its infancy
and that FootFall is well positioned to provide defacto
industry standard benchmarks.'
Commenting on this investment, John Gallagher, Managing
Director of FootFall, said:
'We are delighted to have attracted such a prestigious group
of investors who we believe will add considerable value to our
business. FootFall now has the firepower to create the first
globally recognised industry benchmarks and we shall continue
to expand our business both internationally and throughout the
portfolios of our existing clients.'
For further information, please contact:
NewMedia SPARK
Andrew Carruthers Tel No: 0207 851 7777
Buchanan Communications
Lisa Baderoon Tel No: 0207 466 5000
On behalf of Advent Venture Partners
Vanessa Anderson / Liz Ware / Tariq Haq Tel No: 020 7253 2252
NOTES TO EDITORS:
NewMedia SPARK
NewMedia SPARK plc, listed on the London Stock Exchange's
Alternative Investment Market, is one of Europe's leading
listed technology and Internet investment companies.
SPARK is building a portfolio of investments in early-stage
companies in the UK, Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe and
the United States. Based principally in London and Stockholm,
SPARK has one of the largest and most experienced teams in
Europe, with skills ranging from investment banking to active
involvement in the formation and running of new media
companies.
Our portfolio spans the following sectors:
* Internet transaction platforms
* Interactive entertainment
* Wireless infrastructure and applications
* Web infrastructure tools
* Internet content and commerce
Advent Venture Partners
Advent Venture Partners (www.adventventures.com) is an
independent technology venture capitalist specialising in
investing in technology and healthcare companies in the UK and
Continental Europe. It is headquartered in London.
Advent Venture Partners and its associates currently have
total funds under management of £180 million and it typically
invests between £500,000 and £7 million in each of its
investments.
Since 1981, Advent Venture Partners has invested in over 140
unquoted companies in the UK, Europe and the US, with some 32
going public.
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