10 Mar 2008: Portfolio company Gentronix launches new assay
Now available with an S9 protocol to detect genotoxic metabolites, GreenScreen HC from Gentronix is a human cell-based genotoxicity screening assay used in drug discovery programmes during lead compound optimisation and candidate selection.

Potential pharmaceutical compounds which only present a genotoxicity hazard after metabolism, usually by the liver, are known as pro-genotoxins. The utility of GreenScreen HC has now been extended to detect pro-genotoxins as well as all common mechanistic classes of genotoxin including mutagens, clastogens, aneugens, as well as both topoisomerase and polymerase inhibitors.

Using a standardized 96-well microplate format, the test compound and patented Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) reporter cells are combined with 1% S9 for a 3 hour exposure period. After exposure, cells are washed to remove the S9 and test compound and then allowed a further 45 hour recovery incubation. Cell viability and GFP fluorescence data are assessed using flow cytometry and simple software generates quantitative results and a graphical output.

Minimal investment in early genotoxicity screening delivers major time savings, avoids unnecessary animal testing and prevents costly late stage failures of lead drug compounds through early detection of genotoxic potential. Combining exceptional levels of specificity and sensitivity, GreenScreen HC also correctly identifies non-carcinogenic compounds known to give misleading positive results in other in vitro genotoxicity assays.

25 Feb 2008: Portfolio company Transitive® celebrates 10 million product shipments worldwide
Transitive® Corporation, the leading provider of cross-platform virtualization solutions, has achieved a notable milestone as a result of having its products shipped in more than 10 million computer systems worldwide. In addition to attaining one of the world’s largest deployments of virtualization technology, Transitive has further expanded the availability of its award-winning solutions by signing global distribution agreements with market-leading strategic partners that include HP, Fujitsu Siemens Computers and Red Hat.

21 & 28 February 2008: MTF and UMIP visit the Manchester Climbing Centre
On two consecutive Thursday evenings in February, MTF entertained two teams from UMIP at the Manchester Climbing Centre. The evenings began with instruction on safety, ropework and basic climbing techniques before we were placed in teams and let loose on some of the easier climbing problems. Once initial fear was overcome and confidence placed in the partner with the rope, we could begin to tackle the technical problems of how best to place hands and feet. All agreed it made a change from the usual corporate events and was a very concrete demonstration of teamwork and trust.

Richard Price manages a smile for the camera	Gordon Barker leads the way	Rich Ferrie prepares to belay MTF's Peter Folkman
Lizzie Crawford demonstrates the figure of 8 knot	From L to R Jackie Roy, Richard Price, Heather White, Dan Syder & MTF's Jennifer Raffle	Conor Mulrooney shows no fear

21 Jan 2008: Portfolio company Nanoco named as low carbon pioneer
Nanoco Technologies Ltd feature in the list of the top 100 low-carbon pioneers compiled by CNBC European Business.

Nanoco Technologies Ltd were selected to feature in the list of the top 100 low-carbon pioneers compiled by CNBC European Business. The article features in the latest edition of CNBC European Business ( Jan/Feb 2008)

The list was researched between June and December 2007 and an extensive shortlist of companies built up through multiple interviews with leaders in both the profit and non-profit low carbon sectors - an extended form of peer review.

In addition to CNBC European Business' editorial team, an external panel was also appointed to nominate and review candidate companies. The final list was decided on the basis of the degree to which the company had taken a courageous or ground-breaking stance on climate change, or that it embraced a future, low carbon solution in the form of clean technology or renewable energy.

18 Oct 2007: Portfolio company Silistix one of winners of 2007 English Tech Tour
The European Tech Tour today announced that 24 companies including Manchester based chip company Silistix had been selected as the winners of its 2007 English Tech Tour, in which the country's most promising high growth, early- and expansion-stage technology companies stand to benefit from investment funding.

The 24 winners were chosen from a pool of nearly 300 candidates and selected based on detailed reviews by the English Tech Tour's Selection Committee of leading venture capital firms in the UK. The reviews assessed the uniqueness of their technology, strength of their business model, vision, capability to execute on the business plan and the quality of their management team and track record.

This is the second time in its history that the European Tech Tour has come to England; the last time it was held was in 2004. The European Tech Tour was founded in 1998 and this is the 27th tour it has conducted.

"There has never been a more exciting time to set up a high-growth technology company in England," said Keith Arundale, president of the English Tech Tour 2007. "Last year, there was three times the amount of technology investment in England compared with 2004, and funding for technology ventures increased an incredible seven-fold in the UK overall.(i) We've come a long way since the previous Tech Tour was conducted and the outlook for the technology sector is positive."

Nigel Grierson, managing director and founder of Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures, an English Tech Tour participant and sponsor, commented: "There is no doubt that entrepreneurs continue to be globally ambitious, high quality and determined to build world-class businesses. This entrepreneurial spirit is embodied in many of this year's winners, some of whom may well be leaders in the future."

1 Oct 2007: MTF announces investment in Truthtek project
MTF has provided initial seed investment to Truthtek, a spin-out from Manchester Metropolitan University with software technology for the analysis of non-verbal behaviour in video streams of structured interviews. MTF's investment will support a programme of market analysis and business planning, which will draw on the wide interest which has been shown in this technology. At the same time the company has appointed Dr Mark Wells as interim CEO. Mark has a successful track record as CEO of several venture-backed software companies.

14 June 2007: Portfolio company Ai2 appoints new chairman
Kevin D'Silva joins Ai2 as Non-Executive Chairman. Kevin D'Silva, former group managing director of Teleflex Medical and Ferraris Group PLC, brings a wealth of experience of the medical device industry. Kevin is looking forward to working with Ai2, at a time when its technology is set to strongly impact the medical device sector.

8 June 2007: MTF's Peter Folkman appears Money Programme's investigation into the world of Venture Capital
On Friday 8 June at 19.00, an edition of the BBC's "Money Programme" was broadcast entitled "The AA: rescue or wrong turn?". The programme presented contrasting views of the investment by leading VC firm Permira into household name the AA. Peter's role was to explain the financing structure and tax consequences of the deal which he did with his characteristic brevity and clarity. Half an hour is scarcely long enough to cover all aspects of a complex transaction like this one and the wider issues it raises.

1 May 2007: MTF announces investment in Nano E Print
University of Manchester spin-out, Nano ePrint, secured first round seed investment in May 2007. The $1M investment, including support from Manchester Technology Fund and an undisclosed private investor, will enable the company to substantially expand current technical and commercial teams. In 2008, Nano ePrint expects to unveil its technology prototypes for high-frequency RFID and flexible displays based on the company's proprietary printing and patterning intellectual property.

4 October 2005: Life Sciences Venture Capital Masterclass
An audience of over 50 entrepreneurially-minded academics packed the Michael Smith Building seminar room on 4 October to hear a panel of three leading venture capitalists give their insights into life science investing. The speakers were Dr Carl-Johan Dalsgaard of Healthcap, Dr Jerry Karabelas of Care Capital and Professor Graham Boulnois of SV Life Sciences. They are amongst the most respected venture capitalists in the life science sector, each having built their reputation for life science investing on the back of a career in the pharmaceutical industry. Their message was consistent and clear: excellent science is taken as read: what makes a project investable is when it is developed into a robust and detailed plan, when there is a large target market and where there is top quality management on board. A more detailed summary of each speaker's points is given in the "Articles" section of our website.

In the second half of the session, the floor was given over to three Manchester academics who had bravely volunteered to go into the lions' den and pitch their embryonic business ideas to the heavyweight professionals on the panel. First up was Professor Pat Bailey from the School of Chemistry who has a potentially exciting way of solving the perennial problem of how to improve the bioavailability of drugs. Next was Professor Alan McGown of Salford University who, together with fellow academics from Manchester University, has developed a potentially groundbreaking alternative to platinum drugs which are amongst the most commonly used chemotherapy agents. Concluding the presentations was Dr Clive Robinson of St George's Medical School who, together with Professor David Garrod from Manchester, is building a drug development business aimed at allergy prevention which has a potentially huge worldwide market.

The investor panel were impressed with the high quality of the science on offer: the presenters in-turn received some hard-hitting top quality advice on what it would take to make their business ideas a success.

Professor Mark Ferguson, CEO of life sciences company Renovo, who chaired the event commented
"If you want to build a value-generating life science company, you need top tier investors who will bring more to the company than just money. As we've heard today, obtaining best of class investment requires building the business plan, management team and development work to the point where it will be fundable. Fortunately, there are now mechanisms in place to help academics obtain the financing to do this, for example translation grants from the Research Councils and Wellcome Trust and funding and guidance from dedicated seed funds such as the Manchester Technology Fund."

Two of our panellists, from left to right, Carl-Johan Dalsgaard and Graham Boulnois relax over a cup of tea.	From left to right, panellist Jerry Karabelas shares his point of view with MTF's Peter Folkman.	From left to right, local VC Doug Stellman (YFM Group) engages with panellists Carl-Johan Dalsgaard and Graham Boulnois.

27 July 2005: MTF announces investment into Nanoco Technologies Limited
In July 2005, MTF completed an investment into Nanoco Technologies Limited (Nanoco). The investment round was led by the North West Seed Fund and other participants were The North West Business Investment Scheme and the University of Manchester.

Nanoco is a spin-out from the University of Manchester's School of Chemistry and is commercialising the research work of Professor Paul O'Brien and Dr Nigel Pickett in the area of semiconductor nanoparticles known as quantum dots. Quantum dots have potential applications in many areas including biology, electronic displays, and product authentication.

Nanoco has already made sales to a range of customers worldwide. The money raised will enable the company to fund development and marketing activities in specific application areas.

CEO Michael Edelman who is an American national and PhD chemist with experience both in the chemical industry and of working for VC backed companies commented "We are thrilled to have the support of our financial backers to help exploit Nanoco's strong IP position".

Jennifer Raffle of MTF says "I have been following Nanoco's progress for some time now. Michael Edelman and Nigel Pickett represent a strong and very credible team and I look forward to working with them over the coming months to help build a successful company".

The Nanoco Technologies team: from left to right Paul O'Brien, Michael Edelman and Nigel Pickett	CEO Michael Edelman clinches the deal for Nanoco Technologies

27 July 2005: MTF announces VC masterclass for life sciences to be held 4 October 2005
Following the success of the first VC masterclass held on 9 June 2005, MTF and UMIP are holding a second event chaired by Professor Mark Ferguson on 4 October 2005 aimed specifically at Life Sciences academics. The panel of respected life sciences Venture Capitalist is made up of Graham Boulnois of SV Life Sciences, Jerry Karabelas of Care Capital and Carl-Johan Dalsgaard of Healthcap. Contributions from the panel will be alternated by presentations from Manchester academics in this interactive event. Further event details can be found by downloading the PDF flyer. If you would like to attend, please email lorraine.joseph.vcmasterclass@umip.com

13 June 2005: Portfolio company Transitive featured in Financial Times
An article entitled "Transitive makes its mark in Silicon Valley" received top billing in the FT's Companies and Markets section on Monday 13 June 2005. To access this article in full, reproduced in a pdf format, please click here.

9 June 2005: MTF and UMIP's Venture Capital Masterclass
Some seventy academics were packed into Computer Science's Atlas Room on 9 June to hear a panel of three leading venture capitalists explain just what it takes to build a successful university spin-out company.

The event in question was a Venture Capital Masterclass organised jointly by the Manchester Technology Fund (MTF), the University's in-house venture fund, and UMIP, the University's technology transfer company.

First to speak was Richard Irving, founder of Pond Ventures, which was one of the original backers of Transitive, a successful Manchester spin-out company from the Department of Computer Science. Richard is a witty and knowledgeable speaker with a background in programming which means he can speak the language of the computer scientist

Second of the guest speakers was MTI's Ernie Richardson who spoke candidly about the lessons learned from spin-out failures which can often be more informative than looking at the firm's many success stories.

The third guest speaker was Hermann Hauser, the financier behind much of the "Cambridge Phenomenon". Drawing on his Cambridge experience, his talk focused on creating the right environment for successful spin-out companies.

The guest speakers' talks were interspersed by two presentations from academics: Dr Aimin Song from Engineering spoke about his pioneering work with self-switching diodes and Drs Peter Budd and Neil McKeown from Chemistry presented on their work with microporous polymers.

The event concluded with some informal networking over a glass of wine and a sushi buffet.

MTF and UMIP are organising a similar event aimed at academics working in Life Sciences scheduled for 4 October 2005.

To find out more about the VC Masterclass on 4 October 2005, please contact MTF Managing Director Richard Young on ry@mantechfund.com or 0161 606 7235.www.mantechfund.com

About Hermann Hauser
A co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners, Hermann has a long history of success as a venture capitalist and entrepreneur. Companies he founded or co-founded include Acorn Computers, Active Book Company, Virata, Net Products and NetChannel. Thanks to his work in the nascent PC industry in the 1980s, both at Acorn Computers and as VP Research at Olivetti, Hermann has been instrumental in many industry developments. He holds an MA in Physics from Vienna University and a PhD from the Cavendish Laboratory and was awarded an Honorary CBE for "innovative service to the UK enterprise sector" in 2001.

About Richard Irving
Based in Silicon Valley, Richard has 23 years' experience in venture capital and business and engineering management. Starting as a chip designer at Bell Labs and strategic marketing manager at AMD, Richard later managed three business units at Brooktree. These grew from as small as $1M up to $90M revenue. Richard has been involved in almost $300M worth of deals, including two initial public offerings. Richard, co-founder of Pond Ventures, serves as Director of Transitive, SealedMedia, picoChip and Nanotech Semiconductor. Richard has a B.Sc. (1st Class Hons.) and an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from UMIST.

About Ernie Richardson
Ernie is CEO of MTI Partners, which was nominated Early Stage Investor of the year 2004. A chemical engineer and chartered management accountant, his career included process engineering with British Steel Chemicals Division, finance roles with Laporte Industries, and a spell in international banking. Before joining MTI in 1985 he was Chief Financial Officer in a $5 million start-up venture in the oil processing sector. He is a director and Chairman of several of MTI's investee companies with a general focus on software and communications. Notable companies he has co-founded include Cardcast, Dynamic Logic, Flomerics, Linx Printing Technologies & Vegastream.

From left to right, Hermann Hauser of Amadeus Capital Partners finds out more from Dr Aimin Song from the University's Department of Engineering following his presentation during the VC Masterclass	From left to right, Alasdair Rawsthorne of Transitive catches up with former University colleague Professor Chris Taylor and MTF managing director Richard Young, all under the watchful gaze of Tom Kilburn	From left to right Professor Steve Furber talks to MTI's Ernie Richardson and Computer Science's Dr Gavin Brown.