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Press Release – 6 May 2010
Successful Year for Europe’s leading technology Investment Network
Business Angels maintain deals record despite recession

Oxford Investment Opportunity Network (OION), Europe’s leading technology business angel network, has announced results showing that it has maintained its success in helping innovative companies to secure funding despite challenging economic conditions.

During the year, the significant contribution made by the OION Network to the growth of early stage businesses was also recognised with the award of Business Angel Network of the Year by the British Business Angels Association - seeing off competition from a shortlist that included Advantage Business Angels, Angels Den, Envestors LLP, Central England Business Angels, Octopus Investor Group, South East Capital Alliance and Xénos.

The OION Network is headquartered in Oxford but assists growing technology companies from across the UK to secure funding from £150,000 to £2 million. Its investor members include high net worth individuals - ‘business angels’ - as well as venture capital trusts, funds and corporate venturers.

Guests at the Network’s Annual Dinner heard Investment Networks Director, Don McLaverty, announce that OION’s investor members invested nearly £1 million in 16 companies during the past financial year. This direct investment enabled the firms to leverage an additional £5 million of funding from other sources.

Mr McLaverty said: “I am delighted that OION has continued to maintain its position as Europe’s most successful technology business angel network. We were also honoured to be named Angel Network of the Year by the British Business Angels Association against strong competition from other angel networks.

“We are looking forward to facilitating more deals over the coming year, which support the growth of the early stage businesses that remain critical to the recovery of our economy.”
Guests at the Annual Dinner also enjoyed hearing a presentation from Guest Speaker, Professor Ian Page. In 1990, Ian Page founded a new research group at the University of Oxford working in the area of very high performance computer systems. He created the 'Handel' methodology for designing electronic digital systems and transferred this technology into a spin-out company, Celoxica Ltd. Today, Ian Page is Business Development Director of Seven Spires Investments, a £5 million early-stage investment fund that focuses on companies with disruptive technologies.

OION is one of three investment networks managed by Oxford Innovation, a leading operator of business and innovation centres. Oxford Innovation manages 14 business and innovation centres providing flexible office and laboratory space for over 400 growing companies.
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Editors Notes
Press enquiries to: Margaret Henry, PR Director.
Tel: +44 (0)1865 811199 E-mail: m.henry@oxin.co.uk
Photo available on request
L-R: Don McLaverty (Investment Networks Director, Oxford Innovation), Professor Ian Page (Business Development Director, Seven Spires Investments), who was Guest Speaker at the Annual Dinner of Oxford Investment Opportunity Network, and Eileen Modral (Investment Networks Manager).
About Oxford Investment Opportunity Network (OION)
Oxford Investment Opportunity Network (OION) is Europe’s most successful technology business angel network that links investors with entrepreneurs seeking business development funds up to £2 million.
OION holds monthly meetings where selected companies from across the UK pitch their proposals to OION’s members, which include over 150 active business angels, VCTs and fund representatives.
Many of these companies are university spin-outs and OION has strong links with universities with a reputation for spinning out quality technology companies such as: Warwick, Oxford, Bristol, University College London and Imperial College London.
OION has two successful sister networks. Thames Valley Investment Network links investors in the Reading and Thames Valley area with companies in the general technology, media and green tech sectors seeking funding from £150,000 to £750,000. Oxford Early Investments helps very early stage companies raise funding from £25,000 to £150,000.
OION is managed by Oxford Innovation Ltd (www.oxin.co.uk), the UK’s leading operator of business and innovation centre premises for growing companies, and sponsored by Laytons, Marks and Clerk and the Harwell Campus Programme. For more information: www.oion.co.uk
About Professor Ian Page
Ian Page trained in electrical and systems engineering and initially worked in the computer industry (ICL and Plessey), in the areas of real-time and parallel systems. He became an academic at Queen Mary College, University of London in 1976 and moved to the Computing Laboratory of Oxford University in 1984.
His academic research work has mainly been in the areas of parallel processing, graphics and user interfaces.
Starting in 1990, he founded a new research group at Oxford working in the area of hardware compilation, which means automatically creating very high performance computer systems by compiling software elements into hardware. He created the 'Handel' methodology for designing electronic digital systems and transferred this technology from Oxford University into a spin-out company, Celoxica Ltd, in 1996. He left academia in 1999 to join the spin-out company.
Since 2003 his major role is as Business Development Director of Seven Spires Investments Ltd, a £5m per year, early-stage, technology investment fund. He manages investments averaging over £1 million per company and sits on the boards of several, early-stage, 'disruptive technology' companies.