Top Technology Ventures Limited
IP Group Offices
24 Cornhill
London
EC3V 3ND

Tel: 020 7444 0050
Fax: 0845 074 2929
email: ttv@toptechnology.co.uk


Member of the British Venture Capital Association
Top Technology Ventures Limited is Authorised and Regulated by the FSA
Copyright Top Technology Ventures Limited. 2000-2007. All rights reserved.

Please read our Legal Notices




Top Technology Ventures is a UK-based venture capital company which specialises in providing equity funding for early stage technology based growth companies. Founded in 1986, Top Technology Ventures has a strong track record and has earned a reputation for significant expertise in the early stage UK technology sector. In June 2004 Top Technology Ventures became part of IP Group plc (www.ipgroupplc.com).

The investment team manages funds totalling approximately £49 million. We have a straightforward, open and collaborative approach to investment. We add value to portfolio companies through our experience, support on strategic and corporate finance issues and extensive contact network.

Top Technology Ventures focuses on high growth technology companies, with the first investment being typically between £400,000 and £1.0 million. Our general early-stage funds have mostly invested in the fields of information and communication technologies, but we also look at life science and physical science companies.

Top Technology Ventures' Managing Director, Harry Fitzgibbons, started investing in early stage UK technology businesses in 1982 through Hambros Advanced Technology Trust (HATT), a publicly quoted investment trust. Top Technology Ventures raised a second fund, Hambros Advanced Technology Trust II LP, of £10.6 million in 1991 which was invested in parallel with HATT II (1993), a £2 million co-investment fund raised in 1993.

Top Technology Ventures currently manages two funds: Top Technology Ventures IV, investing funds totalling £17.8 million in early-stage technology companies, and IP Venture Fund investing £30 million in spin-out companies at IP Group's partner universities.

Top Technology Ventures is a member of the British Venture Capital Association (www.bvca.co.uk) and is authorised and regulated by the FSA.



Harry Fitzgibbons, Managing Director.
hf@toptechnology.co.uk

Harry was a director of Hambros Bank from 1972 to 1983 with responsibility for United States corporate finance and for Hambros' portfolio of international unquoted investments. He was instrumental in establishing Boston Hambro Capital Company and Hambro International Venture Fund, both of which were venture investors in the United States. He left Hambros for two years to set up the London subsidiary of L.F.Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin, an American investment bank before returning in 1986. Harry was educated at Harvard College and Trinity College, Oxford and is a graduate of Harvard Law School. After briefly practising law in New York, he served as an officer with the United States Special Forces and with the Department of State, Washington DC. Before joining Hambros in 1972, he was an international banker for four years with Lehman Brothers in New York.

Magnus Goodlad, Investment Director.
mg@toptechnology.co.uk

Magnus joined Top Technology Ventures in June 2000 after four and a half years with Slaughter and May practising a wide range of corporate, banking and finance law. He has worked for Jardine Matheson in Hong Kong and China and as a consultant to URI Inc, a software services provider based in Seoul, and to Lobster.co.uk, an online fine food and wine retailer. Magnus has a first class degree in Law from Oriel College, Oxford. He is a director of Commerce Decisions Ltd, OneClickHR plc and Nanotecture Ltd.

Charles Winward, Investment Manager.
charles.winward@ipgroupplc.com

Charles joined IP Group plc in April 2007 to manage investments in Top Technology Ventures, the Group’s venture capital fund management subsidiary. Previously Charles was Vice President Technology Infrastructure at JPMorgan Chase & Co, where he worked in a variety of roles in London, New York and Brussels, and Investment Manager at Axiomlab, an AIM-listed early stage investment specialist. Charles has an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bristol.

 




When we review investment opportunities we are looking for businesses which possess the following characteristics:
a strong management team with the breadth of skills and ability to grow the company quickly. Not all of the elements of the team need to be in place at the time of investment. We can help build the team as required
a focus on under-served, growing and potentially substantial markets
products with international potential

a scaleable business model

proprietary technology with strong IPR and a defensible technological advantage over the competition

market-driven rather than technology-led development

product at prototype / beta-testing stage

potential to achieve an exit for investors within four to six years



Top Technology Ventures expects to invest between £400,000 and £1.0 million at the time of a first investment and will follow on where appropriate in subsequent funding rounds.

We are happy either to act as lead investor or to participate in syndicates raising larger amounts (usually up to a maximum of £3 million). Top Technology Ventures will normally look to invest in the first "institutional" round of financing, following earlier angel and/or "friends and family" financing.

We aim to keep financing structures simple in order to align our interests with the entrepreneurs as far as possible.

Top Technology Ventures focuses on computer hardware and software, internet tools and infrastructure, communications, networking and electronics as well as medical equipment, diagnostics and other technology based businesses.




If you believe that you have an investment opportunity which meets our investment criteria please either contact one of the investment team. Alternatively, you can e-mail ttv@toptechnology.co.uk or send us a hard copy of your executive summary and/or business plan by post. All business plans received will be treated in strict confidence.

There are some relevant articles in the Business Plans section on our Links page, but the questions below are those we always expect to be addressed :

What is your product and who are you selling it to?
Why will your customers buy it and what problems does it solve?
What are the competitive advantages of your product?

What is the size of your potential market (in the United Kingdom, Europe and worldwide)?

How are you selling your product (in the UK and overseas) and how is it priced?

Who are your current and likely competitors and why will you stay ahead of them?

What other risks does your business face?

Why are you and your team qualified to execute the business plan?

What stage is your business at and what will you use the funding for?

What milestones will you achieve with the money you are raising?

What intellectual property protection do you have?

What financial performance are you forecasting?



includes

Commerce Decisions Limited
Magdalen Centre
Oxford Science Park
Oxford
OX4 4GA
Tel: 01865 784350
Fax: 01865 784351
www.commercedecisions.com

Complex procurement software solutions provider.


 

Foviance
14 Bonhill Street
London
EC2A 4BX
Tel: +44 (0)8450 546 500
www.foviance.com
Online behavioural analysis software that analyses every interaction customers make with your web site.

IP Group plc
24 Cornhill
London
EC3V 3ND
Tel: 0207 444 0050
Fax: 0845 074 2928
www.ipgroupplc.com
An intellectual property business establishing long-term partnerships with universities, becoming a stakeholder in their intellectual property and enhancing the way in which the intellectual property is commercialized. Floated on AIM October 2003.

Netronome Systems
Betjeman House
104 Hills Road
Cambridge
CB2 1LQ
Tel: 44 1223 372460
Fax: 44 8701 991231
http://netronome.com
Netronome Systems develops high-performance network flow processing, deep packet inspection and application acceleration solutions for networking, communications and security appliance manufacturers and the IT organizations that use them.

ANT plc
Cambridge Business Park
Cowley Road
Cambridge CB4 0WZ
Tel: 01223 716400
Fax: 01223 716401
www.antlimited.com
ANT is a leading provider of browser, user interface and content rendering software solutions for interactive TV, STBs, DVD and other consumer electronics devices, industrial appliances, service operators and silicon vendors. It floated on AIM in March 2005

Nanotecture Limited
Epsilon House,
Chilworth Science Park, Southampton, SO16 7NS
Tel: 07960 950956

www.nanotecture.co.uk
A development stage company with a unique and distinctive nano-materials platform technology. The technology has a variety of potential applications but is currently focused on power sources, filtration / separation media and sensors.

Arieso Limited
Venture West
New Greenham Park
Newbury
Berkshire
RG19 6HX
Tel: +44 (0) 1635 500 347
Fax: +44 (0) 1635 500 304
www.arieso.com
Provider of advanced optimization and network planning solutions primarily for 3G cellular networks.

Oxford RF Sensors Ltd
Unit 14A, Oddington Grange
Weston on the Green, Oxfordshire, OX25 3QW
Tel: (1)1865 331 000
Fax: (1)1865 331 002

www.oxfordrfsensors.com
Oxford RF Sensors designs non-contact electromagnetic sensors based on patented RF technology developed at the University of Oxford. It specialises in providing innovative solutions to measurement problems that existing sensor technologies can't solve.

Oxford Nanolabs Ltd
Begbroke Science Park, Sandy Lane
Kiddlington,
OX5 1PF
Tel: +44 (0) 870 486 1966
Fax: +44 (0) 1865 854 830

www.oxfordnanolabs.com/
Oxford NanoLabs (ONL) is a nanobiotechnology diagnostic company developing highly innovative products for applications in genomics, pharmacogenomics and high throughput drug discovery as well as for the Home Defence and Security sectors.

Oxford Catalysts
115e Milton Park
Oxford
XO14 4RZ
Tel: +44 (0)1235 841 700
F: +44 (0)1235 841 701

www.oxfordcatalysts.com/
Oxford Catalysts, which was listed on AIM in April 2005, produces specialty catalysts for the generation of clean fuels, from both conventional fossil fuels and renewable sources such as biomass.

Revolymer Ltd
Dock Road
Mostyn, Flintshire
CH8 9HE
Tel: +44 1745 562301

www.revolymer.com
Revolymer has developed and licensed technology for non-stick clean chewing gum. The Revolymer low adhesion polymer is currently being registered for food use in Europe and US, and will be available in the market in early 2008.

Perpetuum Ltd
Epsilon House,
Southampton Science Park, Southampton
SO16 7NS
Tel: +44 (0)23 8076 5888
Fax: +44 (0)23 8076 5889

www.perpetuum.com
PMG Perpetuum’s vibration energy-harvesting microgenerators are an enabling technology, making wireless, battery-free sensors a reality. The high-performance microgenerators convert vibrations into useable electrical energy to power sensors, microprocessors and RF systems.


Legal Notices

Except where otherwise expressly stated the information on this Site has been issued and approved for the purposes of the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 by Top Technology Ventures which is regulated by the FSA.
None of the statements on this Site excludes or restricts any duty or liability that Top Technology Ventures has under the FSA rules or the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
Funds managed by Top Technology Ventures are not available to members of the general public. In addition, the funds referred to in this Site are not available for distribution to or investment in by US investors.
Nothing on this Site is intended to constitute an offer or solicitation to buy or sell investments of any description in any jurisdiction. Top Technology Ventures makes no representation that the information or materials on this Site are appropriate for use in all locations, or that any Investments or services which are referred to on this Site are available in all jurisdictions, to everyone, or at all. In accessing this Site, you are responsible for compliance with local laws or regulations and for obtaining your own legal, tax and financial advice before entering into any transaction with Top Technology Ventures.
Owing to the nature of this Site, and the nature of electronic distribution via the world wide web, Top Technology Ventures will not have any liability (whether in contract or tort, for negligence or otherwise) for any losses, costs or damages resulting from or related to use of or inability to use any material posted or transmitted on or via this Site to the fullest extent to which such liability may be excluded or avoided by law and in no event shall Top Technology Ventures be liable to anyone for lost profits or for indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential damages arising out of or in relation to the material posted or transmitted or access to, use or performance of, or browsing in this Site or any linked Site.
This Site is protected by the laws of copyright with all rights reserved and is provided for lawful purposes only. You may not copy, print, download, sell, redistribute or reproduce the material other than for your personal use. TTV makes no warranties in relation to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of any of the information contained on this site.
TTV does not guarantee that this site is free from any virus or other harmful element and will not be responsible for any damage you may suffer from any such virus or material. This Website is intended for non-private customers only.

The links contained on this site to material on other sites are for your ease of access only. The presence of such links does not represent any approval or endorsement by TTV or any association with the proprietors of such other sites. TTV is not responsible for the content available on any other internet sites linked to this site, and makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy of or any other aspect relating to those sites or the information contained on them. The views expressed in those sites are the views of the proprietors of the site or the contributors to it and not of TTV. Access to any other internet sites linked to this site is at the user's own risk.





Top Technology Ventures Limited
IP Group Offices
24 Cornhill
London
EC3V 3ND

View head office map

Tel: 020 744 0050
Fax: 0845 074 2928
email: ttv@toptechnology.co.uk