Technology from Ideas closes investment round worth €1.05 million

Investment round closed

Irish technology commercialisation company Technology from Ideas (TfI) has raised €1.05 million from its two existing investors Enterprise Ireland and 4th Level Ventures, and a syndicate of private investors from the Business Angel Partnership. TfI will use the funding to expand the number of development projects sourced from Irish and UK universities over 2008/2009.

TfI conducts proof-of-concept development of early-stage ideas submitted by academic researchers in physical sciences and engineering. It specialises in evaluation, protection and development of the intellectual property, turning concepts into investment ready technologies.

The company, which has partnerships with the National University of Ireland, Galway, Trinity College, Dublin, and University College Cork, says it aims to sell or license proven technology and says that any profits made from sales are shared with the university and researcher who submitted the initial concept.

Dan Richardson, managing director of TfI, said: “We are delighted to have closed our latest investment round and extended our shareholder base. Having spent the first year of operation building our pipeline of projects and relationships with our partners, we’re now sealing our sales activities as we move to commercialise our first tranche of technologies.”

Martin Lyes, research and innovation manager, Enterprise Ireland, said: “Bringing research outputs to the marketplace is a critical step in the commercialisation process. Enterprise Ireland are dedicated to this process and welcome this investment in TfI, which will accelerate their activities in this vital area.”

Ray Naughton, co-founder of 4th Level Ventures, said: “We feel that TfI’s licensing business model holds great potential. In their first year they have demonstrated that university technology transfer offices are keen to work with them and have identified some exciting opportunities.”

Michael Culligan, Halo Business Angel Partnership manager, said: “This is the largest single transaction that we have helped facilitate and it further demonstrates the appetite of our business angels to participate in syndicated structures in helping to grow innovative knowledge intensive companies.”