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Engage | Invest | Exploit 2010 - video summary

 

Photographs from EIE'10 can be viewed here (http://picasaweb.google.com/informaticsventures/EngageInvestExploit12thMay2010#).

About Engage | Invest | Exploit

The third annual Informatics Ventures Engage | Invest | Exploit event (EIE’10) took place on 12th May 2010 with a simple value proposition for investors: see fifty high-potential prospects from across Scotland in one place with an engaging agenda, in one of Europe’s most dynamic and award winning physical environments.

EIE’10 attracted a record forty-eight investors from across Europe including TTP Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, Partech International, Balderton Capital and Amadeus Capital. Corporate Venturing guests included Scottish Water, IBM, Google, EADS, Cisco and BSkyB.

The day featured a panel discussion on: “Commercialising Scotland's Science: From the Cool Comfort of the Laboratory to the Cruel Crucible of the Marketplace” with:

  • Anne Glover, Co-founder and Chief Executive of Amadeus Capital.
  • Professor Anne Glover, Chief Scientific Advisor for Scotland.
  • Ann Budge, Former CEO of Sopra Group.
  • Anne Johnson, early stage investment advisor, based in Silicon Valley.

Opened by Andrew Mitchell, Informatics Ventures Project Leader, the panel was then moderated by Professor Donald MacRae, Chief Economist at Lloyds TSB, who led the discussion through some challenging issues such as: Intellectual Property policy, a national Technology Transfer Office for Scotland and whether small, medium and large companies are doing enough to engage in the two-way street of Knowledge Exchange.

Six companies pitched to the audience of two hundred guests. They were: Factonomy Ltd, Inquisitive Systems Ltd, Mobile Acuity Ltd, SATSIS Ltd, Spinsight Ltd and MPower World Ltd. Over lunch a $1M investment was signed between EPIS startup vibio.com (who pitched at EIE’09) and Archangel Informal Investment; whilst another EIE’09 pitch, Actual Analytics Ltd (School of Informatics spinout), celebrated their formal launch and a £900K investment led by the Discovery Investment Fund.

Anil Hansjee, University of Edinburgh Informatics alumnus and Head of Mergers and Acquisitions for Google, Inc. EMEA, commented on the event: “When I was a student here we didn’t have anything like this. It’s a great showcase for young entrepreneurs to really show people who matter their wares, to try and get out there and get validation from the ecosystem, let alone funding.”

Great advice was delivered in a keynote to EIE exhibitors by Alex van Someren, serial tech-entrepreneur and a UKTI Global Dealmaker: “Try and put profit first, sales second and investors third. That way you keep your priorities right”.

EIE’10 wrapped up mid afternoon with the awarding of best exhibitor prize to Money Dashboard Ltd, as voted for by all guests. From mid afternoon into the evening the Informatics Forum was then host to the first TechCrunch Europe event to take place outside of London. TechCrunch is a world-leading source of breaking news and analysis on technology ventures.

Engage | Invest | Exploit 2011 will take place at the Informatics Forum in May 2011. For further information contact andrew [dot] mitchell [at] ed [dot] ac [dot] uk or visit http://www.eie11.com/.

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