Oxford Technology seeks £12m
Article Date: Feb 08 2006Seed Capital has also unveiled a top-up offer for its fourth Oxford Technology VCT. ‘We are looking to raise £12.5 million,’ says Seed Capital’s Matthew Frohn. At the moment the trust has backed 20 start-up or early-stage companies, using half of the £7 million raised in the last tax-year.
Recent investments include drug packaging specialist Wright Fenn, which makes machines to open blister packs of drugs for use by pharmacists, and wireless connectivity software developer Cutting the Wires, which boasts a link with chip maker Intel.
Frohn envisages investing up to £300,000 in a further ten companies. Some of the money will be earmarked to support follow-on investments in existing portfolio members. This will prevent the trust’s stakes in such concerns being massively diluted by later-stage investors. This happened with cancer therapy concern Avidex last year.
Following this debacle, Frohn has made a vow ‘not to back drug developers in the future’.
