London Business Angels Helps UK Early Stage Technology Companies

Online, January 13, 2013 (Newswire.com) - In 2012, London Business Angels (LBA; http://www.lbangels.co.uk/) helped 17 UK based early stage technology companies with the potential for explosive growth access over £12m of risk capital, with £3m of investment directly by LBA investors alongside co-investment of £9m. The 17 deals were completed across a wide range of sectors; from laparoscopic imaging to scour prevention and from printing technology to crowd -sourced news photo sharing services.

The deal sizes ranged from £150k - £2.5m and notably three seed capital £150k deals, were closed under the UK government's recently introduced Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme. Other highlights in what was a successful year for the LBA community included the sale of high sensitivity fluorescence business Sirigen Group Limited in August 2012 to US medical giant Becton Dickinson, which enabled a £500k LBA syndicate to realise very significant returns.

In October 2012, LBA raised its first £250k FSA regulated LBA SEIS 2012 fund and in April 2012 a record £455k was raised for the HMRC approved FSA regulated LBA EIS Fund 2012 taking the amounts raised by LBA funds since 2010 to over £1.3m. The LBA EIS Fund 2012 has now completed 2 investments and is on track to be "fully" invested by April 2013 at which point LBA intends to launch its next LBA EIS fund.

London Business Angels CEO, Anthony Clarke, comments, "I am delighted that LBA continues to be one of the most active angel communities in the UK. 17 SMEs with the potential for explosive growth have now benefitted from the financial support and invaluable experiences and network of contacts provided by London Business Angel investors. These SMES have particularly benefitted in the majority of cases from the tutelage and guidance offered by a hands on lead angel who is taking an active role in the company post-investment. Lead angels continue to play a crucial role in allowing companies to engage with more passive sources of funding such as our in-house SEIS/EIS funds and the Government's Angel Cofund. LBA looks forward to building on its success in 2012 by working with a new wave of innovative entrepreneurial ventures to accelerate growth in 2013."