LONDON, 30 April 2018: Foresight Group (“Foresight”,) is pleased to announce the investment of £1.58 million into MIRICO Limited (“MIRICO” or the “Company”) from Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund (“the Fund”).
MIRICO is based in Harwell Oxford, Didcot, where it develops, manufactures and deploys unique spectrometer products for highly precise, accurate and sensitive gas analysis.
MIRICO’s patent-protected proprietary technology is called Laser Dispersion Spectroscopy (“LDS”) and the Company is now commercialising two new analytical instruments. Gas analysis is required in many industrial applications such as monitoring natural gas throughout the oil and gas value chain or monitoring low level contaminants in specialised industrial processes. The dominant approach to gas analysis is currently laser absorption spectroscopy, a technique that is relatively slow and highly susceptible to environmental interference from non-target gases, dust and water vapour.
MIRICO’s technology has three key advantages:
John Holden, Principal, Foresight Group said: “MIRICO has created a pioneering technology that supports the trend towards increasingly sophisticated industrial processes and growing concerns on environmental pollution. We look forward to working to with them to grow their business and help with the commercialisation of their product.”
MIRICO will use the Fund’s investment, alongside a further £2 million commitment from existing investors, to further commercialise its two innovative products. The Company will benefit from the support of Williams Advanced Engineering (“Williams”) in progressing to a fully commercial product. Williams is particularly well-placed to provide advice on scaling up manufacturing processes and supply chains.
Matthew Burke, Head of Technology Ventures, Williams Advanced Engineering: “We are delighted to be announcing our support for MIRICO. Being able to support innovative UK businesses, both in terms of investment and industrial expertise, is at the core of the Williams approach. This will add value to MIRICO and, we hope in time, to the broader UK economy.”
This is the Fund’s fifth investment, following investments into Southampton-based Utonomy, a ground-breaking intelligent gas grid solutions provider; Codeplay, an Edinburgh-based software developer and software consultancy business involved in Heterogeneous Systems; The Salford Valve Company (“Salvalco”), a manufacturer of innovative ecologically sustainable aerosol valves (“Eco-Valves”) and Geospatial Insight, a leading provider of satellite imagery analysis for the insurance, investment and corporate sectors.
ENDS
For more information contact:
Ben Thompson, Foresight Group, bthompson@foresightgroup.eu | +44 (0)20 3667 8155
Matthew Knowles, Williams Advanced Engineering,matthew.knowles@williamsf1.com | +44 (0)1235 604 364
NOTES FOR EDITORS
More information on MIRICO is available at http://mirico.co.uk/
About Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund
Foresight and Williams announced the unique collaboration represented by the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund in November 2016. It combines the Williams Advanced Engineering team’s expertise with Foresight’s successful investment track record.
The Fund enables investors to qualify for relief under the UK Government’s Enterprise Investment Scheme (“EIS”) for investment into early stage UK SMEs with strong intellectual property in their own specialist fields.
The Fund plans to make investments of up to £2 million into at least ten qualifying UK SMEs, supporting the next generation of engineering technology success stories in the UK.
http://www.foresightwilliams.co.uk/
About Foresight Group LLP (“Foresight”):
Foresight is a leading independent infrastructure and private equity investment manager which has been managing investment funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients for more than 30 years.
Foresight has £2.8 billion of Assets Under Management across a number of funds, including Listed Vehicles, Limited Partnerships, Enterprise Investment Schemes (EISs), Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) and Inheritance Tax Solutions using Business Property Relief (BPR).
Foresight’s Private Equity team, comprising 22 investment professionals, invests between £100k and £5m in management buy-outs, management buy-ins and growth capital investments in UK SMEs.
Foresight is an appointed equity fund manager for the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), as the British Business Bank launched £100 million of equity funding for the region, as part of the wider £250 million Midlands Engine programme. Foresight will make equity investments of between c.£100k and £2m in growing small and medium sized businesses across the East and South-East Midlands.
Foresight is headquartered in London with regional UK offices in Manchester, Nottingham,Milton Keynes, Leicester andGuernsey and international offices in Sydney, Rome, Seoul and San Francisco.
About Williams Advanced Engineering
Williams Advanced Engineering Limited operates a technology and engineering services business and is part of the Williams Group.
In 2010, Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited began diversifying its operations, leading to the establishment of the Williams Advanced Engineering division, which has now become Williams Advanced Engineering Limited. Combining cutting edge technology and the industry’s best engineers with precision and speed to market derived from four decades of success in the ultra-competitive environment of Formula One, Williams Advanced Engineering provides world class technical innovation, engineering, testing, manufacturing and operational consultancy services to the automotive, motorsport, aerospace, defence, health and energy sectors. Working in close collaboration with its customers, Williams Advanced Engineering helps meet the sustainability challenges of the 21st century and improve performance, with its expertise in aerodynamics and thermodynamics, electrification, advanced lightweight materials and vehicle integration.
For more information see www.williamsf1.com/advanced-engineering, follow us on Twitter @WilliamsAdvEng or on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/williams-advanced-engineering.
