Portfolio

Surrey NanoSystems

Surrey NanoSystems was established in 2006 as a spin-out from the University of Surrey’s Advanced Technology Institute (ATI), with the help of individuals having a successful background in the design of thin-film deposition systems. ATI had developed pioneering intellectual property concerning the fabrication of CNTs at low temperature. This combination of know-how allowed the company to quickly develop an architectural platform called NanoGrowth. This equipment implements a unique process incorporating ATI's patented know-how, and several unique additional techniques, that deliver the conditions for the growth of precision CNTs at both the temperatures and densities needed for state-of-the-art CMOS ICs.

The initial focus of Surrey NanoSystems has been the provision of equipment to developers researching and prototyping CNTs to advance the performance and integration density of semiconductors and electronic devices. The company's focus is now optimising its technology for the mass-volume manufacturing environment, by scaling the hardware and refining and scaling the materials processing technology.

Getoptics

Getoptics Ltd is an online retailer of contact lenses. It is a new company formed to acquire Getlenses and Postoptics. Postoptics has already been acquired, while Octopus' investment will fund the immediate acquisition of Getlenses.

At completion, Getoptics will be the largest online retailer of contact lenses in the UK. With a turnover of £6.5 million and 25-30% market share of the online market, the Company will have unrivalled buying power in the e-commerce lens market, founded on very good relations with contact lens manufacturers.

As a result of the combination, Getoptics will have the opportunity to grow with minimal capital expenditure over the coming years and the chance to roll out best practices learned across the business in marketing, business development, supply chain management and systems.

e-Therapeutics PLC

e-Therapeutics is a systems biology drug discovery company. We are industrialising discovery using computers to predict the effects of intervention on proteins in cells. New drugs are identified systematically and very quickly.  

e-Therapeutics uses these capabilities to:

• search for new drugs across several therapeutic areas
• search for new clinical uses for existing drugs
• identify the probability of drug-drug interactions and toxicity

The company’s current portfolio is in anti-infectives, cancer, central nervous system and asthma.

Phase Vision

Phase Vision Ltd was incorporated in 2002 and supplies optical inspection solutions for high-speed three-dimensional shape measurement with micro-scale accuracy. The Company’s automated inspection systems allow in-process inspection of complex components, removing traditional bottlenecks in the manufacturing process. They have developed (and patented) a unique optical approach to measurement of very large (>100cm) industrial items with free-form or curved surfaces, such as ship propellers and aircraft wings. The Company’s system offers the accuracy of mechanical systems (micron level) with performance far in excess of existing laser systems at a significantly reduced cost.

The Phase Vision system uses a fringe projection approach and comprises one or more projector/camera units that project and image patterns of light onto the object to be measured. Sophisticated algorithms are then used to accurately calculate the dimension of the object.  The system can be used as a stand alone unit (portable or fixed) or can be integrated into the users’ systems.

Graze

Founded in April 2007 Graze is the UK's first company to deliver healthy and nutritionally balanced food by post, straight to the home or office.  Graze promotes a varied and balanced diet through facilitating the intake of a wide variety of smaller portions of natural, high energy foods throughout the day, allowing for a healthier approach to eating.

With over 100 products to choose from, all free from artificial colourings, flavourings and preservatives, customers can select Graze boxes created by the Company’s team of nutrition specialists or place orders for personalised boxes, specifically tailored to meet their tastes, dietary and nutritional requirements.

The Graze product range currently includes fresh fruit, nuts and dried fruits, seeds, crackers and olives, and other natural snacks. Each box costs as little as £2.99 and contains up to three portions of the National Health Service’s recognised ‘five-a-day’ scheme. Graze’s boxes are sent by the Royal Mail and can be delivered nationwide the next day.

Phasor Solutions

Phasor Solutions, formed in July 2005, has developed an innovative approach to the construction of flat panel phased arrays that can achieve a much lower cost per element. This means that an entire phased array antenna can be built for a cost not a lot more than a mechanically steered parabolic reflector antenna of comparable performance.

Phased Array Antennas are arrays of small antennas. By adjusting the relative phase of the signal received by (or transmitted from) each antenna element it is possible to electronically steer the beam to point precisely in a given direction and to dynamically adjust the beam direction to compensate for movements of the antenna or satellite. 

The first commercial trial will take place in 2009 fixed to the roof of an SNCF train. The intention is to install the phased array on trains where the normal antenna is too high to fit under bridges especially on double-decker trains. The next stage of development will be for phased arrays for military vehicles and aircraft.

Zoopla

Zoopla is an online property information service and community website integrating elements such as house pricing, free valuation estimates, and ‘For Sale’ listings, as well as local community information – all on one award-winning site. Launched in January 2008, the company has become one of the most visited property websites in the UK. It has achieved record website traffic, with over five million visits and 40 million page views, boasting over a million user contributions within the first 12 months of launch.
Zoopla is now the UK’s leading website for house prices and value data, providing the most comprehensive source of residential property market information. Zoopla expects to become the website of choice for anyone interested in the property market.

Calastone

Calastone is the UK’s only independent transaction service for the funds management industry. Unlike the securities industry, the mutual funds management industry has not invested in real–time exchange of information between buyers and sellers. Orders are commonly communicated by fax or telephone. The current system is inefficient, slow and very expensive.

By joining the Calastone Transaction Network, the Company’s clients are able to significantly lower their transaction and operating costs.  Clients can achieve greater visibility and control of their order flow as well as access to the whole of the domestic market, and ultimately European, Asian and North American markets. All of these benefits can be achieved with almost zero capital or switching costs.

True Knowledge

True Knowledge Ltd is an internet search company addressing one of the fundamental problems in internet search: namely that computers (unlike humans) cannot understand the content of web pages. As a result, finding information in the early 21st century still involves a process of guessing keywords that may appear in an appropriate web page and hoping that a search engine retrieves a document with the desired information sufficiently near the top of the list so it can be located reasonably quickly. Simply asking a search engine for the desired information in the most natural way possible does not produce a direct response.

True Knowledge’s technology sidesteps this fundamental problem by providing a way for the world's knowledge to be represented in a form that computers can understand and process, and for ordinary internet users to be able to add to this knowledge base without having to understand how the knowledge is represented.

Because knowledge stored within True Knowledge’s technology can be processed and understood by computers, direct and perfect answers to questions on any topic are now possible. Furthermore, the Company’s technology provides a place on the internet where computers and other automated systems can query the widest possible domain of knowledge and receive a response in a form they can process.

True Knowledge’s initial products include a search engine-like consumer site which can answer questions, be used to add knowledge and also just like a conventional search engine; and an API product for computer-generated queries.

The Key Revolution

The Company was incorporated by a team of ex-Vodafone employees to license and commercialise technology patented by Vodafone. The first product, The Mobiu, consists of a simple USB key with an embedded SIMcard, enables users to access the standard applications available on any Windows Operating System (Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Presentations), browse the internet, secure access to documents held in their ‘MobiVault’ remote storage, and collaborate with other Mobiu users in secure ‘MobiRooms’ from any location and without leaving any trace on the PC’s hard drive or the operating network residing on it.

In order to activate the Mobiu key, users simply insert it into a computer’s USB port and enter a PIN number which is authenticated against a central database - providing the user with the same “chip and pin” functionality associated with the use of a bank card at an ATM or store checkout.

Once the SIM card has been validated using the SIMAssured™ technology platform, users are able to create or edit their documents and then store these securely online through the MobiVault, TKR’s secure and remotely hosted server. After the Mobiu key has been removed from the PC no user ‘footprint’ remains and all data is saved on the device and backed up through TKR’s server. Like mobile phones, lost or stolen Mobiu keys can be deactivated as soon as access is next attempted and replaced, thereby ensuring total security.

21 Net

21Net has been making good progress with the development and commercialization of its Broadband To Trains technology and service offering. In October 2007 the company, together with consortium partners, Nokia Siemens Networks and Telenet, signed a Euro 20m+, 5 year managed services contract with Thalys. And in May 2008 Thalys launched ThalysNet, the first and only deployment of satellite broadband internet on high speed trains. This 26 train deployment has being closely monitored by SNCF, Eurostar and other major railway companies and has resulted in further contracts with ViaRail in Canada, NTV in Italy and a trial in India, the worlds largest railway system.

PlumBaby

Plum Baby started trading in February 2006 and offers consumers a fresh approach to nutrition for infants. The Plum Baby brand provides the ultimate in “feel good” baby food - a premium range of ambient weaning meals made exclusively from organic ingredients.

In its first year of trading, Plum Baby sold over two million pots from just eight recipes in its weaning range for babies aged over four months. In June 2007 the Company launched a range of meals for older babies between seven and twelve months and in August 2007 it launched a range of three super grain porridges.

Plum Baby built turnover to £3.5 million in 2007 and achieved 6th place in the babyfood category by the end of its third year of trading. The Company has contracts with Boots, Ocado, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.

2007 market data from A.C. Nielsen showed that Plum Baby has already made it into the Top 20 ranking by retail sales value for products in its category.

Baby Innovations

Baby Innovations are the owners of the Steribottle brand name and patented a disposable sterile baby's feeding bottle. Steribottle® produces disposable, affordable, single-use feeding bottles. The bottles are made of recyclable plastic, come complete with a special teat and are all pre-sterilised and ready-to-use. Convenient anytime, at home or on the move, the Steribottle takes the time and stress out of bottle-preparation.

Steribottle is now widely distributed in UK grocery and pharmacy stores including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrison’s and Boots. In 2007 the Company invested more than £3 million in the completion of a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility with Rexam PLC in the US . It has signed distribution license deals in the UK, US, Australasia and Asia.

ITM Power PLC

ITM Power believes it has developed and patented the keys to revolutionise the hydrogen economy and is set to become one of the UK's leading innovator within the alternative energy sources industry.

ITM Power was the first fuel cell company to be admitted to AIM. Since the Company's IPO in July 2004, the company has reached the AIM 100 index and is the largest combined electrolyser and fuel cell company in Europe.

LoveFiLM

Founded in 2003, LOVEFiLM International Limited is one of Europe’s leading home entertainment companies. It has one of the most respected entertainment and film websites in Europe. It was the first company to deliver online-DVD to the mass market in the UK and other key markets in Europe. The Company’s growth has been impressively fast, helped by innovative new offerings as well as acquisitions. Since launch, it has completed ten mergers and acquisitions across Europe, demonstrating its skill in picking the right market and opportunity at the right time.

The Company has been nominated for or won numerous awards including: Winner of the UK Technology Innovation & Growth Awards 2008; Winner at the Fast Growth Business Awards 2008; Voted one of the Top 50 fastest growing media companies at both the 2008 and 2007 Media Momentum Awards; Awarded fifth place at the 2007 Sunday Times Tech Track Awards; Winner of Home Entertainment Week Awards of Excellence 2007; Finalist at the Fast Growth Business Awards 2007; Ranked one of the Top 200 European Private Companies by Red Herring Europe in 2007.

In February 2008, LOVEFiLM agreed a deal with Amazon’s DVD rental business, making it Europe’s leading online DVD rental and movie download company, with over 1.2 million active household subscribers and over 20% of the total DVD rental market. Recent press comment has suggested the Company’s valuation could be in the region of £200 million.

Colney Memorial Parks

Founded in 1999 and branded as Woodland Burial Parks, Colney aims to set new standards of excellence within the burial market by offering in a woodland environment an ecologically friendly alternative to conventional burials and cremation. The Company currently has three woodland burial parks: Colney Woodland Burial Park, Epping Forrest Burial Park and Chiltern Woodland Burial Park.
In recent years, a lack of burial space has become a major issue for local authorities in the UK. This, combined with a general trend towards a more secular society and the increasing recognition that cremation is damaging to the environment, support the long-term growth prospects for Colney’s business model. Since its foundation, the Company has been successful in obtaining planning approval for green belt woodland due to the benefits that the development brings to the environment and the local community.

In November 2006, Octopus Ventures advised Colney on the acquisition of a majority stake in the Company by Bibby Line Group in return for a funding commitment of £5.6 million, enabling the Company to broaden its portfolio of woodland burial parks.

iProfile

Since its inception in 2001 Skillsmarket goal has been to simplify the recruitment process by establishing the iProfile as “the online CV”. SkillsMarket works with the leading recruitment companies, recruitment software suppliers and job boards to make them iProfile-compatible and provides them with valuable solutions to their individual problems.

Most importantly SkillsMarket enables recruitment consultants to find the best candidates in half the time and provides jobseekers with a secure place to store their online CV in a format that helps them to find work more quickly. Over two million jobseekers already own an iProfile and this number is rising rapidly.

Skillsmarket has been nominated for or won various awards including: Finalist for Onrec’s Best Technical Innovation in Online Recruitment 2007; Finalist for REC’s London and Southeast’s Innovative Use of Technology in Recruitment Award 2006; Finalist for ATSCO’s Innovation of the Year Award 2006; Winner of ATSCO’s Innovation of the Year Award 2005.

Cyclops

Cyclops delivers software to manufacturers of cars, navigation equipment suppliers and mobile phone operators that provides information on speed limits, accident black spots and speed camera locations for many countries in Europe, Australia and the USA. Customers include Garmin, Telmap and Navteq

The software uses GPS technology to compare the actual position to an on-board or off-board database holding details of speed cameras throughout the UK, Europe, Australia and the USA. When a motorist approaches one of these locations the unit compares the speed of the vehicle to the local speed limit and delivers clear audiovisual alerts accordingly. As the alert is provided some 800m in advance of the location, suitable action can be taken by motorists to correct their speed. As the purpose of speed cameras is to reduce speed at dangerous locations, road safety organizations welcome and approve of the Cyclops software in promoting safe driving.

Fractal:Edge

Seeing the wood for the trees is increasingly difficult in today's data-rich business environment. Fractal:Edge's product range helps you grasp the detail and the overview of your data in an instant, even if you have lots of it or it is changing very quickly.

Fractal:Edge provides an interlocking suite of products aimed at delivering compelling data visualization solutions for a wide range of different business uses and IT environments.

Intamac

Intamac has developed a unique, web-based service platform to monitor and control devices in the home. The platform is used to offer a range of innovative new web monitoring services for the connected home. The platform allows Intamac to provide corporate partners with white label product/service bundles that leverage broadband to generate new recurring service revenues and reduce customer churn. These services include low-cost home monitoring that provides security, environmental management, telecare and home automation. The company has platforms deployed on 3 continents to support major blue-chip partners including BT, DSC Tyco, Thomson, Linksys, Telenor, Insurance Australia and most recently Woon Veilig and LOCKON (See www.woonveilig.nl & www.lockon.dk).

Future Route

Established in 2002, Future Route Ltd is a world leader in the development of ground-breaking data analysis software for commercial, mass market use. Its technology, which is based on a unique and powerful combination of artificial intelligence and sophisticated data analytics, is easy-to-use, suitable for multiple platforms, and applicable to any market that struggles to extract insight from data. End users are offered superior commercial insight in a fraction of the time it would take a human to assess the same set of data. The Company has filed a number of global patents in the use of artificial intelligence, inductive logic programming and information theory to solve a range of information based business issues.

Validis™, Future Route’s first branded offering, was bought to market during 2007 and is the equivalent of an electronic auditor. It is a web-based SaaS (‘Software as a Service’) which combines sophisticated data algorithms and a powerful rules engine to generate insight into large quantities of undifferentiated accounts data. Validis requires virtually no training and provides its users with a fast, efficient and cost effective way of checking the accuracy and completeness of 100% of their underlying accounting data in a matter of seconds. It allows users to identify errors; spot anomalies; highlight suspicious transactions; view business trends; check against internal and external accounting rules (286 commonly accepted accounting rules checked); and generate powerful management reports in under a minute. This means users can maintain their accounts efficiently and publish them with total confidence.

In November 2007, Validis formed a strategic alliance with Mamut ASA, a leading European provider of complete, integrated software solutions and internet services for SMEs, which will see all Mamut customers throughout Europe provided with access to Validis.  It was also awarded the 2007 Accountancy Age award for ‘Best Use of Internet in Business’.

Villas To Go

Established in 2002, Villas to Go offers a comprehensive range of vacation properties in Portugal, Spain and the islands, Crete, Cyprus, Skopelos and Florida. Its team of dedicated professionals has over 50 years travel experience gained in many branches of the travel industry.

Unlike traditional tour operators, Villas to Go is a purely online specialist holiday provider, contracting directly with owners and suppliers in its resorts. As a result, the Company does not incur many of the costs that other operators do. For example, those associated with brochures, large call centres and high street travel agencies. As a result, it is able to keep its costs down and pass on the savings to clients.

The Company’s specialist areas are: 

• Letting exclusive private homes: each villa or apartment is personally inspected and must satisfy the Company’s criteria of quality - location, facilities and value. All of the properties are individually owned and whilst they vary in style, comfort and price, they all offer value for money.
• Property Letting Search: The Company provides customers with access to potential properties through its extensive contacts network.
• Owners’ Property Letting Service: The Company acts for clients wishing to rent their property both for holiday and long term lets.

Site Confidence

Founded in 2001 and one of the UK’s first web monitoring companies, Site Confidence is now the UK’s leading website performance monitoring company. The Company provides independent web performance monitoring and load testing services to over 400 blue chip clients, protecting over £4 billion of online revenues and monitoring five million web pages every week.

Site Confidence’s services which are specifically tailored to each company’s requirements, present clients with fast, useful, cost-effective information about their websites, emulating customers’ experiences. This real-time information allows them to detect performance problems and respond quickly to prevent future slowdowns or outages.  Its client list includes many of the UK's largest companies such as Norwich Union, Auto Trader, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, First Choice and Experian.

In January 2007, Site Confidence was acquired by NCC Group, the world’s largest provider of IT assurance services for a consideration of up to £9.1 million in cash payable in three stages before June 2008. NCC paid £4.5 million on completion of the transaction, and there is the potential for two further pay outs of £1 million and up to £3.6 million depending on the Company’s trading performance.

SI Seafarms

SI Seafarms owns mussel farms in Shetland and already produces around 7% of all Scottish rope grown mussels. A mussel farm consists simply of rows of buoyed lines and suspended down ropes. The mussel spat attaches naturally and feeds entirely from the available nutrients. Mussels are ready for harvest after 28 months of growth. UK mussel consumption has grown consistently over the past few years but per capita consumption is still significantly below that of the Continent. Mussels are low in fat and a rich source of healthy minerals and Omega 3. According to Rick Stein “mussels grown in Shetland on ropes are the best mussels anywhere in the world.”