The Angel CoFund, a fund that co-invests
in high growth ventures alongside UK angel groups, has realized its first exit
by the sale of Nonlinear Dynamics, a Newcastle firm that develops specialist
software for analyzing proteins, to Waters Inc., one of largest companies in
the analytical instruments industry, listed on the New York Stock Exchange and
with a market cap of $8.85bn.
“To have had an exit in the first
two years of running the Angel CoFund is absolutely brilliant and everyone
involved in the deal is delighted,” says George Whitehead, Angel CoFund
Chairman.
About Angel CoFund
Launched in 2011, the Angel CoFund is a privately run fund that works alongside groups of business angels to invest in high growth small and medium sized businesses across the UK, directly providing funding as well as encouraging the expansion of the business angel market.
Launched in 2011, the Angel CoFund is a privately run fund that works alongside groups of business angels to invest in high growth small and medium sized businesses across the UK, directly providing funding as well as encouraging the expansion of the business angel market.
Backed by the new Business Bank and the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, the £100m Angel CoFund is able to make initial investments between £100,000 to £1 million, alongside syndicates of business angels. (Note: approximately $160,000 to $1.6 million.) To date the fund has supported 32 companies (for example Gousto, YPlan, PlayJam and Micrima) providing over £12 million in direct investment alongside £50 million from business angels.
Nonlinear Dynamics was the Angel
CoFund’s 7th investment, completing on 19 July 2012 – participating alongside a
group of experienced angel investors from Yorkshire and the North East, with
additional debt provided by FW Capital and support for the syndicate provided
by Tiger Corporate Finance. The Angel CoFund acquired approximately 5% of the
company, whilst also investing in a convertible loan.
The sale represents the first exit for the Angel CoFund, delivering an aggregate return of £1.086M on its original investment of £383K, equating to a money-multiple return of 2.84x for the fund and its angel co-investment partners. “The Angel CoFund looks to both support angel investment across the UK, and to ensure that enough cash gets to good, scalable businesses – just like Nonlinear Dynamics. This is real evidence that the rationale behind what we are doing is spot on,” says Whitehead.
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