The London Technology Fund Competition was established in 2008. The success of the 2008 programme led us to repeat the competition in 2009, with an expanded programme of workshops and additional major technology corporates joining the innovative corporate "speed-dating" event. The programme runs for nine months and its purpose is to help innovative young technology companies in London understand and address the key issues they face as they develop their products for a global market, forge relationships with larger corporate partners and attract the funding they need. The Competition culminates in the announcement of the winning companies in each sector, and the announcement of the overall winner of the Grand Prix, at an Awards Ceremony and Reception. This was held at the City headquarters of The Royal Bank of Scotland on 4 November, attended by some 200 representatives of major corporates, investors, and government, as well as entrepreneurs, academics, and professionals.
Winner of the Grand Prix and Life Sciences Sector Award Winner
Trojantec Ltd
Trojantec is developing cancer stem therapeutics based on its platform technology of intracellular and intranuclear delivery of proteins. It has created, thus far, two novel nanoparticle fusion proteins, TR1 and TR4, that aim to achieve normal p21 delivery to p53/p21 mutated tumors (TR1) and inhibition of notch signalling (TR4) resulting in tumor eradication in preclinical models.
Professor Agamemnon Epenetos, Chairman, Trojantec Ltd, said, "I found the wide variety of presentations and workshops, covering key aspects of business for early stage companies, very constructive and useful. The 'speed dating' event allowed us to meet and interact, briefly, with possible investors in our niche area of early biotech R&D. We're absolutely delighted to be Grand Prix and Life Sciences Sector winners".
Website: www.trojantec.co.uk
Winner of the ICT Sector Award
BView Ltd
BView is a groundbreaking new advertising network built around the world's only local voucher search application. The company has integrated the preponderance of all UK vouchers, with an emphasis on local vouchers. There are now over 40,000 locations across the UK that have a local voucher offering on BView. The company is rapidly growing its network of distribution partners. Google Local and Ask Jeeves are now live and a growing pipeline of new online and mobile partners will be announced in the coming months as the BView advertising network extends its reach across other search engines, local directories, and mobile applications.
Brad Liebmann, CEO of BView, stated: "We are delighted to be the sector winner in such an innovative competition sponsored by LTF. The competition programme has been very well organised and has enabled many new corporate relationships from which we and our customers will benefit for many years".
Website: www.bview.co.uk
Winner of the Design and Engineering Sector Award
Juice Technology Ltd
The Company has developed technology which increases lighting efficiency. It has launched two ranges of LED lighting products based on this technology. It focuses on key areas of LED performance to address power, control and thermal issues. The Company works with major OEMs to provide lighting solutions for their end markets.
Ian Turner, CEO of Juice Technology said, "We have benefited hugely from being a part of the LTF competition and our involvement has helped substantially in moving the company forward. The speed dating event where we had the opportunity to meet with a number of major corporations was particularly useful. We are absolutely delighted to be the sector winner in the LTF Competition which recognises the continuing innovation and hard work of the whole Juice Team".
Website: www.juicetechnology.co.uk
Winner of the Environment Award
Novacem
The company is developing a new generation of carbon negative cement systems, based on research from Imperial College London. The annual production of traditional Portland cement of over 2.5bn tonnes - about half in China - accounts for about 5% of man-made CO2 emissions. Novacem estimates that for every tonne of ordinary Portland cement replaced by Novacem cement, around 0.75 tonne of CO2 could be captured and stored indefinitely in construction products.
In August 2009, two-thirds of the way through the LTF Competition programme, LTF announced that it was joint lead in a syndicate together investing over £1m in Novacem.
Stuart Evans, Chairman of Environment Award winner Novacem, said "We were really pleased to have participated so successfully in the LTF competition. It's crucial for companies like Novacem to develop relationships with multinational companies right from the start. And the LTF speed dating event was a great forum for this. Finally, London Technology Fund is to be congratulated for organising an event that has been educational, stimulating and fun all at the same time".
Website: www.novacem.com
London Technology Fund Competition 2009 programmeOver 150 young technology companies registered for the LTF Competition 2009, which closed to new entrants on 30 May. Management teams from over 20 of these young companies participated in the LTF Competition programme of all-day training and advice workshops run by specialists over the summer at the offices of Oracle, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Channel 4.
The LTF Competition offers the possibility of being offered a share of up to £1m of investment, subject to LTF's usual investment criteria. However, a key prize is participation in the LTF Competition programme itself, which is designed to help young technology companies improve their business plans and hear from experts about management team building, sales and marketing, product development, raising finance, legal documentation, IPR, and presentation skills.
The workshop programme attendees progressed to the corporate speed-dating event held on 16 September, which is one of the highlights of the LTF Competition programme.
At the speed-dating event over 30 young technology companies, including the Competition shortlist and a number of other exciting young technology companies, were given the opportunity to join representatives of some 20 major technology companies/their corporate venture capital funds at the Chartered Accountants' Hall in the City of London. The speed-dating event was expanded substantially in 2009, reflecting enormous interest in the event. This year it featured additional major technology companies and over 160 'brief encounters' took place between young technology companies and large technology corporates/their venture capital arms.
After the speed-dating event on 16 September, a group of semi-finalists was given the opportunity to present to a panel of judges at Oracle's offices in the City of London on 30 September. From this group, the following nine finalists were selected to receive further training before presenting their proposal to a second panel of expert judges on 4 November. The winners were announced at an Awards Ceremony and Reception in the evening of the same day, attended by major corporates, investors, entrepreneurs, academics and professionals.
LTF Competition 2009 finalists
Once again, the breadth and depth of technology amongst entrants is illustrated by the range and quality of the finalists. The finalists, including the winners, were the following:
Design & Engineering Sector
Chevalier Technologies
Chevalier Technologies is developing products which offer energy efficiencies through reductions in the size and weight of motors, aimed initially at the automotive and aeronautical industries.
Cute Circuit
Cute Circuit is developing technology that enables the integration of telecommunications and data services with clothing, with its first product being the award-winning 'Hug Shirt'.
Juice Technology - winner of the Sector Award
Juice Technology has developed technology designed to increase lighting efficiency by focusing on key areas of LED performance to address power, control and thermal issues.
ICT Sector
BView Ltd - winner of the Sector Award
BView has developed an advertising network built around a local voucher search application, and now has over 40,000 locations across the UK with a local voucher offering.
MediaEquals
MediaEquals uses web-based technology to enable media owners and buyers to access inventory, and communicate with each other more efficiently.
Zanran
Zanran has developed technology which allows users to search the internet rapidly for numerical data, such as graphs, bar-charts, pie-charts, and tables.
Life Sciences Sector
Fertility Innovations
Fertility Innovations is developing technology designed to enable the direct treatment for male infertility by activating non-motile sperm.
Ixico
IXICO provides clinical trial services to pharmaceutical companies helping them gather evidence of drug safety and efficacy through medical images.
Trojantec - winner of the Grand Prix and the Sector Award
Trojantec Ltd is developing cancer stem therapeutics based on its platform technology of intracellular and intranuclear delivery of proteins.
Environment Award
The London Technology Fund Competition has a special category to recognise the vital contribution of innovation to sustainable development. It is open to all entrants to the London Technology Fund Competition who have developed technology which has commercial potential and which supports sustainable development, including innovations aimed specifically at minimising pollution. The Environment Award, open to a semi-finalist in any sector, was announced on 4 November.
The winner of the Environment Award in 2009 was Novacem. Novacem is developing a new generation of carbon negative cement systems to replace traditional Portland cement. In August 2009, two-thirds of the way through the LTF Competition programme, LTF announced that it was joint lead in a syndicate together investing over £1m in Novacem.
The London Technology Fund Competition 2009 Awards Ceremony and Reception on 4th November 2009 at The Royal Bank of Scotland, 280 Bishopsgate, London EC2
Sponsors and SupportersSponsored by Company Guides Venture Partners (managers of the London Technology Fund), Oracle Corporation UK Ltd, PricewaterhouseCoopers and
The Royal Bank of Scotland.
Supporters include: Amgen, BAE Systems, BASF Venture Capital, BP, British Library Business & IP Centre, BT, Cambridge Consultants, Capgemini, Cisco, College Hill, Eli Lilly and Company, 4iP, groupH, HB Communications, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), Intel Capital, Johnson Matthey, Kilburn & Strode LLP, Let's-Begin, Lockheed Martin UK, Marriott Harrison, MBDA, MessageLab, Motorola Ventures, Pera, PharmaVentures, Procter & Gamble, Qi3, Rolls-Royce, Shell EP GameChanger, Shirlaws, Smith & Nephew, SR One (GSK's Venture Fund), Trinamo LLP and Unilever Ventures.
Photographs from the 2009 speed-dating event on 16th September, which featured over 160 'brief encounters' and was held in Moorgate Place at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Quotes about the 2009 Speed-dating Event
David McMeekin, chairman of the London Technology Fund, said, "The brief encounters are designed to help overcome the barriers innovative technology entrepreneurs face in trying to understand what really matters to major potential customers, suppliers and trade investors. The global corporates also have the chance to see some of the most exciting technology developments coming out of London. The event provided a forum for these parties to talk to each other and we are delighted at the high level of interest it generated. There were over 50% more major technology companies attending this year - a testament to the quality of London's young technology companies".
Dr Oliver Guthmann, BASF Venture Capital GmbH, said: "It is the second time that we join this exciting event here in London and it is a pleasure for us to meet young start-up companies presenting their business to us. Some companies have been selected for further interviews with BASF-experts as potential candidates for in-depth evaluation".
Daniel Hulme, CEO NPComplete Ltd, said: "The LTF Speed Dating event was a fantastic opportunity to get feedback from industry leaders about the commercial potential of our business and technology. We gained follow-on opportunities with nearly all the companies we pitched to as well as invaluable introductions to relevant people within their organisations".
Dr David Churchman, Isis Innovation Ltd (representing the University of Oxford spin-out, The Tidal Energy Company), said: "We had a great afternoon meeting some potential partners that will be key to the development of our spin-out company. All five meetings had really positive outcomes and agreements to follow up. A number of them were particularly fruitful, like one with a large company which has a huge emphasis on developing alternative energy solutions, which fits perfectly with our mission. The really big difference was having the opportunity to meet the right type of corporate partners represented by the right sort of person in such a concentrated and efficient manner. It was a great event and extremely valuable to an early stage business looking for corporate introductions at the right level".
Paul Catherall, CEO TheraGlass Ltd, said, "We were delighted to have had the opportunity to attend the speed dating event which was a fantastic opportunity to mix with the best global companies in the market".
Quotes about the 2009 Competition ProgrammeDr. Thanos Mitrelias, CEO of Cambridge BioMagnetics, said "We were very excited to be selected to participate to the LTF competition and the outcome exceeded all our expectations - the structure of the workshops and the material they covered were of high quality and very well thought. It is not an exaggeration to state that it was a brilliant and extremely comprehensive course on how to successfully build a start-up technology company. I have been involved in the entrepreneurial scene for more than 10 years, and have found that the LTF competition towers above most of the activities/events I participated in before. Furthermore, the speed-dating event was a truly unique experience and we are already exploiting useful opportunities which came out of the meetings".
Dr Phil Green, Engineering Director, Chevalier Technologies Ltd, said, "We feel privileged to have been selected to participate in the LTF programme of workshops and in particular the Speed Dating Event. This event has in fact proved invaluable in raising awareness of our technology amongst some of the most successful companies in the world. In just one day it has created new opportunities to advance the interest of our company. We have been able to establish contact with key personnel of a number of major companies. Thanks to this great opportunity three of these companies have now expressed interest in our technology and proposed to meet us to discuss potential collaborative contracts".
Ryan Genz, CEO, CuteCircuit, stated: "The London Technology Fund Competition has been an amazing experience and has provided us with the opportunity to grow our business in strategic ways that otherwise would not have been possible. The speed-meeting event put us in touch with the right venture teams and allowed us to create strong relationships with them".
Francesca Rosella, Chief Creative Director, CuteCircuit, stated: "The LTF Competition with its workshops and speed-meeting event allowed us to accelerate our business growth. We are very excited by the opportunity this provides us to deliver excellent products to consumers and brand value to our investors".
Michael Evans, CEO of Green-Tide Turbines Ltd: "'The LTF Competition has provided a focus for our fund raising campaign, their workshops and mentoring have been most useful even for a seasoned entrepreneurial management team. Being accepted on to the programme was a prize in itself with the Speed-dating event being the highlight so far. The LTF are providing a highly innovative and valuable service to both start-ups and investors".