The Wyvern Seed Fund has a mixed portfolio of investments across the two Universities. In addition to investments into new spin-out companies the Fund has been used to support the development and commercialisation of academic research and Intellectual Property, for example by establishing License Agreements or other collaborative ways of returning value from the science/technology.

Project Commercialisation

The Fund has given initial sums to a number of projects to enable them to have their full commercial case explored, to protect IP or to seek external advice and opinion on the opportunities. The funding of this type of 'pathfinding' work is important for the Universities, to ensure that those projects selected for substantial funding are properly researched and prepared. In many cases the academic or group do not have the resources or know-how to examine the commercial side of their projects, this is when such funding can bridge the gap.

Examples of these projects include;

Filing costs and external expert advice on the commercial value of Patents.
Funds to enable the negotiation of a License deal with an overseas manufacturer.
Purchase of a comprehensive market and industry report into a specific technology and it's applications to enable a consultant to evaluate the potential of a proposed investment.
Exploration of the scientific and commercial potential and manufacturing risk for a new medical diagnosis instrument.
Analysis of the commercial potential and development of an outline business strategy for a new E-commerce (B to B) company.
Patent costs to protect innovative work in the Closed Circuit TV field.
The engagement of a consultant to develop a business model for the commercialisation of research and expertise on novel micro-organisms.

Spin-out Companies

The Wyvern Seed Fund has invested in the following spin-out companies;

NanoGan

NanoGan Ltd, a spin-out from the University of Bath, will produce and sell free standing GaN templates to semiconductor device manufacturers and foundries involved in the development of very reliable, high power electronic components.

Azellon

Azellon, a spin-out from the Deparment of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Bristol will develop technology designed to repair damaged knee mensicus cartilage by encouraging knitting together of the tear by inserting a membrane which is impregnated with the patients own cells.

Revolymer (www.revolymer.com)

University of Bristol spin-out company which has an established pipeline of new products based on proprietary polymers which include applications in drug delivery, detergents, surfactants and cosmetic markets. One of the first products that the company plans to produce with the new polymers developed at Bristol is a novel formulation of chewing gum that has the potential to prevent the gum from sticking to pavements. Irresponsibly discarded gum that litters pavements costs the UK local governments millions of pounds annually in clean-up costs.

Micrima (www.micrima.com)

Over a number of years Prof. Ralph Benjamin, Dr. Ian Craddock and Prof. Alan Preece, from South Bristol Oncology Clinical Sciences and the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Bristol, have developed a microwave radar system whereby a high-resolution image of breast tissue can be obtained with microwaves for the early detection of tumours within the breast. The novel concept of Near Field Synthetic Focusing has been patented and Micrima established to commercialise the concept.

Imetrum (www.imetrum.com)

Imetrum, a spin-out company from the University of Bristol, have developed a competitive, high accuracy, non-contact measurement system for materials and structures testing. The system offers more rapid set-up and measurement times as well as enhanced accuracy when compared to conventional methods. The initial market will be the mechanical testing machine sector, but there is potential for much wider application, e.g. in aircraft condition monitoring.

Atlas Genetics (www.atlasgenetics.com)

Atlas Genetics, a spin-out from the University of Bath, will be developing rapid tests for serious disease such as meningitis, chlamydia and the hospital superbug MRSA. Patents have been filed in relation to Atlas’s key technology and it is expected that it will enable hospitals and eventually GPs to perform tests on the spot and make decisions about treatment within 20 minutes. This innovative technology has been developed by a team of leading scientists from the Department of Chemistry, including Professor Laurie Peter, Dr Toby Jenkins, Dr Chris Frost and Dr Stephen Flower. This was in collaboration with companies now acquired by Osmetech Plc, which is also a party to the current joint venture.

Apitope (www.apitope.com)

Apitope Technology is a biopharmaceutical company aiming to become a world leader in the treatment of allergy and autoimmune diseases, with novel advantaged products representing major advances in therapy and addressing critical unmet needs. Founded at the University of Bristol in January 2002, Apitope has established itself with an impressive record of commercial and technical achievement through highly qualified, inspired and enthusiastic management and scientists. Apitope has developed a unique method to design highly selective peptides with clear advantages of specificity and much reduced side effect potential. Its lead product enters MS clinical trial in Q4, 2006.

Symetrica (www.symetrica.com)

Originally a spin-out company from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southampton, Symetrica was incorporated in the UK in 2002 to commercialise proprietary, high performance gamma-ray spectroscopy, imaging hardware, software and the know-how developed by Dr Ramsden and his team at the University. The company has a long heritage in both academic and applied research and has provided equipment for use in space astronomy, the nuclear industry, defence agencies, medical and process control industries. It is now focused on opportunities in Homeland Security, primarily in USA.

Xmos Ltd (www.xmos.com)

Xmos is a semiconductor spin-out company with core technology developed in the University of Bristol Computer Science department. The company's novel processor architecture emulates hardware functionality and provides solutions within the $10 billion microcontroller market. Xmos provides a new way of implementing hardware designs. Xmos delivers customer requirements in the form of a chip that is both designed-for-purpose and customer programmable.

Plexus Planning Ltd (www.acsian.net)

ACSIAN plans to revolutionise the management of large and complex projects, in all industry sectors, with a new generation of project management software, PLEXUS MANAGER. Formed by University of Southampton Professor Jim Scanlan and a colleague from Rolls-Royce, ACSIAN will help major companies achieve successful large scale projects that deliver on time and to budget. Leading the team are co-founders Jim Scanlan and Ian Poccachard, Development Engineer at Rolls-Royce Defence Europe. They, with six other engineers and academics, have spent many years developing the software, a product of the team's extensive experience in working with large aerospace organisations.

Karus Therapeutics Ltd (www.karustherapeutics.com)

Karus Therapeutics, an emerging biotechnology company and University of Southampton spinout, is focused on developing innovative therapeutics to treat cancer, inflammation and heart disease. Karus Therapeutics was created in July 2005 when Dr A Ganesan from the University's School of Chemistry, cancer scientist Dr Graham Packham and cardiac biologist Dr Paul Townsend from the University's School of Medicine joined forces to develop novel drugs known as histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors to treat major, unmet, life-threatening diseases including cancer, inflammation and heart disease.

The company's next generation products are expected to offer patients more potent and safer treatments compared to existing medicines.

Perpetuum Ltd (www.perpetuum.co.uk)

Perpetuum was founded by a team of researchers at the University of Southampton, the company provides unique solutions for self-powered sensor systems eliminating external wires or batteries. Academic and industrial researchers worldwide have spent much effort over many years trying to devise a practical microgenerator. After Perpetuum’s team had also tried many devices, such as piezo-electric materials, they discovered a novel way of using a optimised combination of coils and magnets. The concept is to harvest kinetic energy, usually vibration, which is then converted by our microgenerators into usable electrical energy to power sensors, microprocessors and transmitters.

KWS Biotest

KWS BioTest Ltd is a recent spin out from The University of Bristol specialising in drug efficacy trials for immune diseases. KWS has signed a sales and marketing agreement with BioDynamics Research Ltd. Under the terms of the agreement, BioDynamics will promote KWS’ services to its growing list of customers in Europe and Japan. KWS has established a range of models for immune and infectious diseases at the Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Bristol.

Ilika Technologies Ltd (www.ilika.com)

Ilika has proprietary high throughput technology for the discovery and development of novel materials. The technology has been demonstrated to significantly accelerate the creation and assessment of materials in a range of markets and successfully establish strong intellectual property (IP) positions in new materials. Products whose development has been accelerated through research undertaken by Ilika to date include fuel cell electrodes, hydrogen storage alloys and electronic materials as well as polymer formulated products and biomedical materials.

The Retention People Ltd (www.fitronics.com)

The Retention People was founded in 2003 by two Mechanical Engineering graduates. The team won first place in a Business Plan Competition in 2002. Since start up the company has launched an IT system for health and fitness clubs which helps them to retain members by connecting all their existing fitness equipment into an IT system which automatically records all members performance, activity and attendance. The system is wireless so can easily be incorporated into the existing configuration of any club.

Nanotecture Ltd (www.nanotecture.co.uk)

Nanotecture is based on proprietary technology related to the manufacture and application of highly-organised, nanoporous metals and metal oxides. The academic co-founders of the company were Professor Phil Bartlett, Professor George Attard and Dr John Owen of the Department of Chemistry in the University of Southampton. Dr Chris Wright, recently chairman of AGM Batteries Ltd has been appointed as the company`s executive chairman. The company will develop and patent materials and applications based on mesoporous technology, initially focusing on the manufacture of improved supercapacitors and other energy storage devices for consumer goods and traction applications.

Lectus Therapeutics Ltd (www.lectustherapeutics.com)

Lectus Therapeutics Limited is a Bristol University biotechnology company, specialising in the discovery and development of first-in-class ion channel therapeutics for urinary bladder disorders, pain and angina. Lectus, which began operations in the summer of 2003, exploits the power of its proprietary functional proteomics platform, LEPTICS (Leveraged Enabling Proteomics Technology for Ion Channel Screening), and builds on its knowledge of ion channels and protein-protein interactions, to identify and develop novel ion channel drugs. Such "next-generation" ion channel drugs are anticipated to offer desirable clinical profiles with commensurate economic advantages.

Stratophase (www.stratophase.com)

Stratophase Ltd. is a spin-out company founded within the University of Southampton based on the expertise of Drs. Peter Smith and Richard Williams from the Optoelectronics Research Centre. It Specialises in the design and fabrication of periodically-poled lithium niobate (PPLN) and other micro-engineered crystal structures. The company's activities cover all stages of material design, development, fabrication and application as well as providing consultancy in this new commercial sector.

Capsant Neurotechnologies Ltd (www.capsant.co.uk)

Capsant Neurotechnologies Limited was formed in October 2002, spun out of the University of Southampton. It was set up by its academic founders, Dr Lars Sundstrom, Dr John Chad and Dr Ashley Pringle to discover novel targets and drugs for Central Nervous System disorders (e.g. stroke, trauma, epilepsy, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s). The company has a technology platform based on brain organotypic slice cultures. These organotypic cultures represent a microcosm of the brain and are ideal systems to probe the collective actions and fates of neuronal assemblages over prolonged periods of time.

ProVision Communications Technology Ltd (www.provision-comm.com)

ProVision Communication Technologies Ltd is a technology leader in wireless communication, currently providing highly reliable digital transmission solutions for clients ranging from large international media companies and telecoms providers, to businesses operating across several specialist fields of telemetry.

The company owns and grows a portfolio of intellectual property in wireless transmission, signal propagation and media technology and actively seeks to licence much of this. The company was formed in June 2001 by Professors David Bull and Andrew Nix from the Centre for Communications Research at The University of Bristol.

ProXara Biotechnology Ltd (www.proxara.com)

ProXara's mission is to be a world leader in the development of novel therapeutically-relevant cell-based high throughput screens for drug discovery using imaging technologies.

The Company was founded by Professor Jeremy Tavaré in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Bristol and was incorporated in March 2001. ProXara has also received funding from Catalyst BioMedica and private sources. ProXara will establish a portfolio of cell-based assays against important targets in diabetes & obesity, inflammation & immunology, and cancer, for screening against both internal and customer compound collections. The company's technologies will identify relevant targets, and provide the platform for assays to be performed in a natural cellular environment. ProXara will develop assays both internally and for partners, and will undertake primary and selectivity screening against its own chemical libraries as well as those of partners. In addition, it will carry out lead optimization and candidate selection for selected targets.