Business
First Direct Investment via Enterprise Ventures
First Direct Investment via Enterprise Ventures.
About this update from Mercia Asset Management Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 5794X Mercia Technologies PLC 09 May 2016 \n\n\n\n\n\nFor immediate release\n\n\n9 May 2016\n\n\n\n\n \nMercia Technologies PLC\n \nFirst direct investment into new 'emerging star' from the Enterprise Ventures Group portfolio\n \nMercia Technologies PLC (\"Mercia\", \"the Company\" or \"the Group\"), which specialises in building, funding and commercialising innovative British businesses, is pleased to announce that it has agreed the Group's first direct investment sourced from the portfolio of investments managed by Enterprise Ventures Group (\"EVG\"), following its acquisition by Mercia on 9 March 2016. The acquisition of EVG, a leading provider of early stage and growth finance via third party managed funds in the North of England, has significantly expanded the Group's pipeline of direct investment prospects, where it provides follow-on investment capital from its own resources into 'emerging stars', with a goal of realising significant value for Mercia's shareholders over time. This first direct investment is an early confirmation of EVG's strategic benefit to Mercia and the Board anticipates that further direct investment opportunities will arise from the EVG portfolio over the near term.\n \nMercia has invested an initial £400,000, via a convertible loan note, in Concepta Diagnostics Limited (\"Concepta\"), which develops diagnostic devices for women's health. EVG has previously invested seed and early stage finance from its third party managed funds.\n \nBased in York, and founded by a group of experienced scientists who previously worked for Unipath Limited in the fields of fertility and women's health, Concepta has developed a range of market-ready products. Its product range recently achieved product registration in one of its largest target markets, China, where the abolition of China's one-child policy is expected to drive significant demand for a cost-effective at-home fertility monitoring system as parents seek to have additional children. Concepta's product range provides reliable data to women for a variety of fertility applications, using proprietary disposable test strips and devices linked to a mobile app which captures levels of key fertility hormones in urine and builds an accurate and easy-to-understand \"digital diary\". \n \nPeter Din...