AFA Systems plc

Investment: 1995

Exit: 2001

www.afa-systems.com

AFA Systems develops, installs and supports risk management software for the financial services sector. Top Technology Ventures invested at the time of the formation of the company which had been set up to exploit a proprietary software package developed over the previous three years in a South African risk management consultancy.

AFA Systems now has offices in London, Northern Ireland, South Africa and Hong Kong and its systems are used by over 105 financial institutions in 20 countries worldwide to deliver mission critical financial applications.

Top Technology Ventures first invested in 1995. AFA Systems floated on AIM in 1996. Top Technology Ventures' investment of approximately £840,000 generated proceeds of £7.9 million.

Trafficmaster plc

Investment: 1992

Exit:1998

www.trafficmaster.co.uk

Trafficmaster collects and transmits digital traffic information to road users. Top Technology Ventures invested in the company when it had only one prototype sensor operating in trials. We helped negotiate a licence with the UK Department of Transport to establish a nationwide network and funded the deployment of the system.

Trafficmaster has subsequently established a network with more than 5,000 sensors throughout England, Scotland and Wales. It has expanded into Germany, France and Italy and developed a range of in-car telematics products.

Top Technology Ventures first invested in 1992. Trafficmaster floated on the London Stock Exchange in March 1994. Top Technology Ventures' investment of £2.4 million generated proceeds of £19.8 million.

SciMAT Holdings Ltd

Investment: 1994

Exit:1999

www.scimat.com

Top Technology Ventures invested in SciMAT in April 1994, when it backed the company's MBO from Cookson Group Plc alongside other venture capitalists CinVen and MTI.

SciMAT's patented technology takes naturally "water repelling" plastic materials, such as polypropylene, and makes them water absorbent by using an ultra-violet, molecular grafting technique. SciMAT's first commercial use of these materials was in the sub-micron filters used in rechargeable batteries fitted in notebook computers, mobile phones and video cameras.

SciMAT received the Queen's Awards for Technology in1996 and Export in 1999. Its battery separator product has been granted the prestigious Millennium Products Award.

SciMAT was sold in September 1999 to US company Crane & Co Inc, a manufacturer of speciality papers and banknote paper for the US government for an up-front cash sum plus a 3 year performance based earn out. Top Technology Ventures' original investment of £813,000 generated proceeds on sale of approximately £2.2 million.

Protagona plc

Investment: 1994

Exit:1999

www.protagona.com

Protagona (formerly Recognition Systems Group Plc) develops and supplies software solutions focusing on Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Top Technology Ventures invested in the company in 1994. The company, applying neural computing technology, was formed to apply technology developed at Aston Science Park in Birmingham.

Top Technology Ventures' investment helped Recognition Systems to further develop their product range, recruit additional development and sales staff, and open offices in the United States.

We helped Recognition Systems to prepare to float on the London Stock Exchange in 1996 and assisted in the raising of further finance through rights issues after flotation. Top Technology Ventures realised £896,000 from its original investment of £200,000.

Telematics International

Investment: 1982

Exit:1993

www.eci-tech.com

Telematics designed and manufactured wide area networking products for voice and data communications. HATT, the first fund managed by Top Technology Ventures, provided initial venture capital of £363,000 and Harry Fitzgibbons joined the board at the time of the investment in 1982. Top Technology Ventures invested a further £438,000 in subsequent syndicated funding rounds.

Telematics floated on Nasdaq in 1987, raising $30 million for research and development, international sales and marketing. In December 1993, the company merged with ECI Telecom, the Israeli telecommunications company, at a valuation of $300 million. Top Technology Ventures realised £11.4 million against an original cost of £801,000.

Racal Millicom (Vodafone)

Investment: 1982

Exit:1987

www.vodafone.com

Racal was one of the two groups awarded nationwide cellular telephone franchises for the UK in 1982. Millicom approached Harry Fitzgibbons for help in pursuing the franchise and Harry negotiated the structure of the relationship between Racal, owning 80% of the consortium and Millicom and HATT with 15% and 5% respectively. Harry served as a member of the Racal-Millicom board which owned the Vodafone franchise. In 1986 HATT exchanged its Racal-Millicom holdings for Racal shares which it sold in 1987 for £35.6 million against an original cost of £767,000.