EGX, the UK’s largest games event, and nDreams, the UK’s biggest specialist VR developer-publisher, are excited to announce that nDreams’ immersive virtual reality game The Assembly will be playable publically for the first time at EGX this 24th-27th September. The Assembly is an incredibly immersive story-driven, character-focussed first-person adventure game built from the ground-up for
Leading technology investor Mercia Fund Management (“Mercia”) has launched its sixth EIS and SEIS hybrid fund, which is purely focused on seeking investments originating from its extensive university partnerships across the Midlands, the North and Scotland, where it sees strong opportunities across key technology led sectors in which it holds deep expertise. The University Growth
Since Gordon Brown first proposed in 2006 that universities should prove their economic contribution in order to secure funding, the spinout sector has steadily grown into a varied and exciting territory for IP-rich technology businesses. And with good reason: the UK boasts some of the finest academic institutions in the world, with a cohort of
MIP Diagnostics, a University of Leicester spinout that develops molecularly imprinted polymers for research purposes, diagnostics and drug discovery, has begun the initial expansion of its business operations with the appointment of Adrian Kinkaid as CEO. This follows a recent investment of £182,000 made by Mercia Fund Management. Adrian will begin driving the technology into
The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed EIS vehicles provide a legitimate government-introduced, tax- free capital growth environment for investments held for at least three years. Private investors can also expect a 30-50% income tax rebate on funds invested, alongside additional tax advantages including loss relief. Such tax advantages have proven very successful in encouraging
The trading card market has been around for decades, featuring everything from our favourite sports superstars, to the characters of a Hollywood blockbuster. Their popularity lies in the fact that they can be collectible, durable, play-able and, in some cases, valuable. However, as our society moves into a digital age, where ones and zeros replace
Following the recent appointment of Steve Powell as CEO and in response to the current underprovision of pure antigens for researchers in vaccine development, diagnostics and academia, The Native Antigen Company (NAC) has developed a convenient e-commerce platform that will facilitate access to its high quality catalogue of native and recombinant antigens. NAC, divested from
Mercia Fund Management (MFM), a national fund management business with a focus on the Midlands, North and Scotland, has committed £379,000 in seed funding to NuVision Biotherapies Ltd, a University of Nottingham spinout developing effective and affordable eye care medical solutions for humans and animals. The funding will support the commercialisation of NuVision’s ground-breaking product,
Our theme over the next period is AMBITION, both for Mercia and our innovative portfolio of technology companies, as we seek to accelerate their growth whilst scaling our own investment model. Ambition is also a key attribute that we look for in the entrepreneurs we back and support, with a recent interview with Crowd Reactive
The most innovative and impactful fund managers, investment platforms, financial advisers and wealth managers specialising in alternative investments have today been revealed as finalists for the inaugural Growth Investor Awards – which recognise all those involved in putting investment to work in UK SMEs and enabling ‘scale up’ businesses to realise their full potential to