These investments are the latest from The IQ Capital Fund, a £25 million Enterprise Capital Fund managed by IQ Capital Partners.
Sherston Publishing Group is the UK's leading provider of educational software for primary schools, with titles covering every part of the curriculum, and co-development partnerships with major education specialists, including BBC Active, BBC Motion Gallery, Eurotalk, LDA, Oxford University Press and Softease. The group was established in 1983 by teachers who recognised the huge potential of educational software and wanted to become fully involved in its creation. The Fund’s investment took the form of an equity investment in August 2011 followed by a series of more recent debt finance arrangements.
Rosslyn Analytics is the leader in cloud-based, enterprise data discovery services and business intelligence. Its data analytics platform rapidly transforms business data into powerful information enabling strategic, tactical, and operational insights and decision-making. It can accurately identify financial and supply chain risks, while providing finance, procurement, accounts payable, general counsels and others with a ‘single data management’, reporting and forecasting platform. The Fund first invested in the company in January 2010 as part of a £1 million round and led the most recent round of equity financing in April 2012.
miiCard’s ground-breaking online security technology provides personal protection against identity fraud and theft, allowing consumers to buy and sell with confidence; connect safely across the internet; apply for financial products; and access professional advice. The Fund has been a lead investor in two rounds of funding, the most recent of which took place in April 2012.
Mills & Reeve's venture capital team is nationally renowned for its specialist experience and expertise in advising and assisting on complex syndicated investments in early and developing high-tech businesses. Led by corporate finance partner, Zickie Lim, the team has been working closely with IQ Capital Partners since the launch of the Fund in 2007 and has advised them on investments and follow on investments in 14 of their portfolio companies.
Ed Stacey of IQ Capital Partners commented: “Mills & Reeve has done it again! Their in-depth knowledge of VC investment transactions coupled with their commercial and pragmatic approach were absolutely vital to ensuring these investments proceeded smoothly and within tight timeframes”
Zickie Lim, who was assisted on these transactions by corporate finance solicitors Pippa Pearce, Dona Ardeman and Sofie de Pfeiffer said: “Early stage VC funds like The IQ Capital Fund are crucial to ensuring that SMEs in the UK with innovative and disruptive technology are able to secure much-needed equity gap funding in the most challenging of economic environments. We wish them and their portfolio companies every success.”
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