Enterprise Ventures helps AIM companies raise £86m in 2015

Small- and medium-sized businesses backed by Enterprise Ventures, an investor with offices across the North, managed to raise over £86m on the London Stock Exchange sub-market AIM last year, new figures show.

The company now has eight listed firms in its portfolio after the floatation of Merseyside biotech businesses Redx Pharma, which raised £15m upon joining AIM in March, and Evgen Pharma, which raised £7m in October.

Six other SMEs in Enterprise Ventures’ portfolio collectively raised more than £64m via AIM share placings in 2015, including Rotherham-based cleaning tech firm Xeros Technology Group (£40m), York-based health company OptiBiotix (£1.5m), Manchester-headquartered prenatal diagnostics business Premaitha Health (£8m) and Nelson firm Science in Sport (£8m).

Enterprise Ventures’ chief executive, Jonathan Diggines, said: “Over the past decade we have supported some of the UK’s most exciting technology businesses – mainly in the North of England.

“We backed them right from the start, often when they were just an idea – the toughest time to attract funding.”

He added: “Having helped to lay the foundations, the resurgence of the public markets is now enabling us to attract new capital, to build scale and to bring new technologies to market.”

Elsewhere, 2015 saw Enterprise Ventures’ Liverpool-based client Document Direct secure £700k in investment and Wammee Holdings, a big data specialist based in Cheshire, land follow-on investment of £465k.

Enterprise Ventures, which operates bases in Manchester, Barnsley, Liverpool and Preston, has a portfolio of 375 companies, most of which are located in the North. Since 2010, the firm has invested more than £110m.

Speaking further, Jonathan commented: “After years of uncertainty, when many firms have had their plans on hold, the outlook is now much more positive.

“We will no doubt still experience the unexpected – and we will surely face interest rate increases in the short to medium term - but at last it is time for small businesses to invest and move on.”