Press Releases

Back

Pentech Ventures Lands £5million EIF Investment

30 September 2002

Pentech Ventures, the Glasgow-based early stage technology venture capital company, has announced the close of its first fund following an investment commitment of over £5m from the European Investment Fund (EIF), taking total funds under management to circa £22.5 million. The fund close has significantly exceeded the original targets set on the launch of the fund in July 2001.

Commenting on the final close, and the EIF investment commitment, Pentech founder Eddie Anderson said "I'm delighted that EIF has invested in Pentech Ventures. The fund raising climate is extremely difficult, and so to exceed our fund raising target, with an investor of this quality, demonstrates that we have a strong business model, and the team in place to carry it forward".

"We launched Pentech at a time when other investors were taking a step back from investing in early stage software companies. In this time, we have been able to establish our position as one of only a few active early stage technology investors in the UK and Ireland. As a result our deal flow is exceptionally strong, and the outlook for the fund is very encouraging."

Pentech's investment process uses an advisory group of five technology entrepreneurs, based both in the UK and in the United States, with experience of building start up technology ventures through to IPO or trade sale. After the investment is made, the Pentech Executive team together with the Advisory Group, work with investee companies to help them realize their potential to become global operations.

To date Pentech has completed four investments totalling £4.5 million in Applied Generics, the Edinburgh-based mobile location company; Rhetorical Systems, the Edinburgh University spin out text-to-speech firm; Automsoft, the Dublin based provider of advanced database solutions to process industries and Aircraft Management Technologies (AMT) the aviation industry software provider, also based in Dublin. Pentech are actively looking at a number of potential new investment opportunities.

Commenting on the investment, Chief Executive of EIF Francis Carpenter said, "We are very impressed by Pentech. The combination of their focus on working with early stage software companies, together with the experience of their team made it a very attractive proposition in the current climate."

About European Investment Fund www.eif.org

The EIF is the European Union's specialised financial institution for venture capital and guarantees for SMEs. Based in Luxembourg, the EIF was established in 1994 as a joint venture between the European Investment Bank (which became its majority shareholder in 2000), the European Commission and European banks and financial institutions.

EIF guarantee activity facilitates access to debt finance for SMEs through the intermediation of a wide range of banks and financial institutions. The latter are allowed to allocate capital to those operations at a rate of 20% in accordance with EIF's status as a Multilateral Development Bank under the European Solvency Ratio Directive. Currently, EIF's guarantee portfolio totals EUR 3.967 billion in some 100 different operations.

For its venture capital activity, the investment strategy of the EIF focuses primarily on the promotion of European technology through investments in venture capital funds located in the Union and the Accession Countries. The EIF has proven itself to be a major player in the European early stage venture capital market, with a cumulative portfolio of EUR 2.3 billion comprising some 173 funds across the EU and Central and Eastern Europe.

For further information:

Pentech Ventures
Eddie Anderson
Tel: +44 (0)141 572 7303
Email: eddie@pentechvc.com
David Armour
Email: david@pentechvc.com

PR Representative
Maggie Wright Associates
Tel: +44 (0)131 226 3622 or 07801 710360
Email: maggie@mwa-scotland.com

European Investment Fund
Marc Schublin
Tel: +352 42 66 88 1
Email: m.schublin@eif.org