Imperial Innovations wins cleantech investor of the year award

The technology transfer arm of Imperial College, Imperial Innovations, has been awarded the title of Cleantech Investor of the Year 2010 at the European venture capital awards event, Investor AllStars 2010, last week.

The awards, attended by more than 500 investment professionals from across Europe recognises venture capital firms with a strong track record of innovative investment and exits in high growth cleantech companies, as well as those with a reputation for close involvement in the early-stage investment community.

Winners must demonstrate that they have added value to their portfolio companies.

Imperial Innovations was joined at the awards ceremony in London by representatives from companies in its cleantech portfolio, which includes:

EVO Electric, which develops and manufactures advanced electric machines and has recently joined a consortium of industry partners as part of a £20 million UK Technology Strategy Board project to develop technologies for range extended electric vehicles;

• Nexeon, a battery materials and licensing company developing silicon anodes for lithium-ion batteries;

• Quantasol, which is developing concentrated photovoltaic solar cells combining quantum well technology with highly reliable multi-junction solar cells;

• Novacem, which has developed a novel cement which is net CO2 absorbing;

• Plaxica, which is developing a new generation of polymers based on polylactic acid that are expected to demonstrate improved physical properties over existing biopolymers;

• Mycologix, which is developing a biological pre-treatment process for second generation biofuels.

Susan Searle, CEO of Imperial Innovations, said, “We are delighted to have won this award, which recognises our commitment to identifying ground-breaking technology opportunities and providing investment over the lifecycle of high growth companies.”