The search is on for tomorrow's high tech winners
Introduction
The first Eden fund raised and invested some £50 million in a range of hi tech, high growth companies, including the company behind the F1 computer systems. These immensely powerful race winning number crunchers are now being adapted to power more conventional businesses to success. Now they have launched Eden Two, which has just raised £75 million pounds to invest in tomorrow's hi- tech winners.
What links one of Bath's most elegantly restored houses with one of the region's leading firms of solicitors and Lewis Hamilton's race winning F1 Computer technology?
The answer is Bath based Eden Ventures, the award winning early stage technology investor who, in conjunction with Ashfords Solicitors, have this week been celebrating the launch of their second investment fund.
The first Eden fund raised and invested some £50 million in a range of hi tech, high growth companies, including the company behind the F1 computer systems. These immensely powerful race winning number crunchers are now being adapted to power more conventional businesses to success.
Now they have launched Eden Two, which has just raised £75 million pounds to invest in tomorrow's hi- tech winners.
Eden's partners are all successful entrepreneurs and business managers, justly proud that their tightly run outfit from Bath was recently named 'Early Stage Venture Capital Fund of the Year'.
Several of the companies helped by Eden have themselves become award winners.
They include pioneering telecoms company Apertio whose revolutionary mobile phone networking equipment has seen them become the UK's fastest growing private telecommunications company.
Or Secerno, European award winners for their innovative computer security software which protects company computer networks from external threats and internal sabotage.
Almost every deal the Eden team has brokered has been in conjunction with Andrew Betteridge a partner with Ashfords Solicitors.
Ashfords Solicitors, one of the largest law practices in Bristol and the West Country with 450 staff and 51 Partners working from 6 locations, has a strong track record in advising on technology ventures. This depth of knowledge speeds up the process of negotiating and completing deals in a frequently competitive environment.
Eden's Mark Caroe said
"It is an indication of the high quality of support we receive locally from Ashfords that Andrew has advised us on all bar one of the deals in 'Eden One' and all the deals completed in 'Eden Two' to date. We look forward to this successful partnership continuing as we help more great hi-tech start ups to become winners."
Meanwhile Eden is continuing the search for tomorrow's champions, seeking more businesses like Voice Vault. Voice Vault, their voice recognition security system is said to be 99.6% per cent accurate, significantly more reliable than iris or fingerprint recognition. In the ultimate test the company even challenged impressionist Rory Bremner to fool the technology by impersonating Tony Blair.
The device not only rejected Bremner's best efforts but also identified him as the speaker.
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