New VCT launches to commercialise technology from four leading UK universities

A team of academics and professional investors has teamed together to launch a new VCT, which will invest in technologies developed by the research departments of four leading UK universities: Bristol, Southampton, University College London and Imperial College London. The four universities spend nearly £450m a year on research in total, with over £150m dedicated to technology. The VCT is aiming to raise more than £30m, with the minimum level of investment set at £5000. Investments will target early-stage opportunities in information technology, wireless and broadband communications, advanced engineering and materials technologies.

The executive team in charge of the management of the VCT includes Mark Wilshire, CEO, who is a chartered accountant with over fifteen years investment experience; investment director Edward Stacey, a physicist and electronic engineer, who worked for four years with Scientific Generics; Roger Ashby, senior executive, who founded Dove Energy, a £100m turnover specialist hi-tech oilfield engineering company, and Southampton Innovations Limited, an independent commercial development company, wholly owned by the University of Southampton University; and Sally Dewar, investment executive, who is an accountant with extensive experience of corporate finance, due diligence and M&A work. In technology, she was closely involved in the listings of freeserve, QXL, Ricard and 365 Corporation, among others.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• UK / Ireland