REG - IP Group PLC - Launches ‘Kiko Ventures’ cleantech platform

IPAnnouncement

22/06/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 7057P  IP Group PLC  22 June 2022

 FOR RELEASE ON  22 June 2022

 

IP Group plc launches 'Kiko Ventures' platform to deepen its support for
transformative climate technology

 

IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Company" or "the Group"),
which develops world-changing science and technology businesses across life
sciences, technology and cleantech, announces the launch of 'Kiko Ventures' -
a wholly-owned platform dedicated to supporting transformative climate
technology.

 

As outlined in the Group's full year results statement in March, the Kiko
Ventures platform is fully owned and funded by the Group and will build on IP
Group's strong track record and existing cleantech portfolio, which is valued
at more than £175m.

 

In line with previous guidance, the Group plans to invest approximately £200m
over five years from its balance sheet capital into existing and new
companies.

 

The Group's cleantech team, led by partners Robert Trezona, Jamie Vollbracht
and Arne Morteani, will, under the Kiko Ventures brand, continue to support
and build category-leading companies in the field.

 

IP Group has a strong track record of identifying differentiated and impactful
dealflow and nurturing it to key inflection points. Highlights in cleantech
include the turnaround of Ceres Power and the early identification of First
Light Fusion which, in April, achieved fusion.

 

Greg Smith, Chief Executive Officer of IP Group, said: "IP Group has a
successful history of identifying and commercialising impactful technologies
which address the major challenges facing the world. Our highly experienced
team have dedicated their careers to climate tech and we believe that,
consistent with our strategy of deeper thematic focus, a dedicated platform in
the cleantech space will help accelerate our efforts in this area and deliver
returns for shareholders alongside impact for society."

 

The full release follows below.

 

For more information, please contact:

 

 IP Group plc                                             www.ipgroupplc.com (http://www.ipgroupplc.com)
 Liz Vaughan-Adams, Communications                        +44 (0) 20 7444 0050

+44 (0) 20 7444 0062/+44 (0) 7967 312125
 Charlotte Street Partners
 David Gaffney                                            +44 (0) 7854 609998
 Andrew Wilson                                            +44 (0) 7810 636995

 

Notes for editors

 

About IP Group

 

IP Group develops world-changing science and technology businesses across life
sciences, technology and cleantech. The Group has a strong track record of
success, having been the founder investor in a number of high-profile
companies including Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc, and has one of the most
exciting portfolios of high-growth businesses in Europe. The Group also owns
Parkwalk, the UK's largest growth EIS fund manager which backs world-changing
technologies emerging from the UK's leading universities and research
institutions. IP Group is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock
Exchange under the code IPO.

 

For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com
(http://www.ipgroupplc.com/) .

 

ENDS

 

World's first evergreen cleantech venture investor Kiko Ventures is launched;
a $450m platform to support transformative climate tech

 

●  Global investment in cleantech reached an all-time high of $40bn in 2021
and events during 2022 have further increased momentum for sustainable
technologies

●  However, there are structural constraints on the existing funding
landscape. The ecosystem lacks the flexibility required to optimally address
the climate challenge.

●  Kiko Ventures' team has spent decades investing in climate tech and
backed world-leading businesses including Ceres Power, First Light Fusion and
Oxbotica.

●  Kiko's innovative evergreen structure provides exceptional flexibility
and strong, long-term alignment with climate tech entrepreneurs.

 

22 June, London: Kiko Ventures - the world's first evergreen cleantech venture
investor - is launched, a $450m (£375m) platform to invest in the next
generation of climate tech visionaries and create new possibilities for a
regenerative future.

 

Launched by the FTSE 250-listed investment firm IP Group, Kiko Ventures is an
innovative new investment platform designed to support and grow the
category-leading climate tech champions of the future. The team plans to
deploy £200 million over the next five years using IP Group's flexible
capital platform. Kiko will launch with existing assets, valued at over
£175m, as well as a number of new investments already made under the Kiko
strategy that are yet to be announced. Kiko benefits from IP Group's evergreen
structure: through which returns from exits can be recycled into new
opportunities, allowing for a true evergreen portfolio without crossover
between fund vehicles and with a very long time-horizon.

 

With an increasingly urgent solution required to avert the most damaging
aspects of climate change, we are seeing a resurgence of climate tech
investment across the world. Figures from Climate Tech VC suggest global
investment reached an all-time high of $40bn last year. Recent events in
Europe have also focused attention on the need for energy sources that are
more sustainable. However, most investors in cleantech operate traditional
fund structures or need to adhere to the commercial agendas of corporate
venture capital (CVC), imposing constraints on the existing financing
landscape.

 

The Kiko Ventures' founding team combines the established IP Group cleantech
team, led by veterans Robert Trezona and Jamie Vollbracht, with new Partner
Arne Morteani, who previously spent 14 years helping to build one of Europe's
leading cleantech VC funds. The whole team has dedicated their careers to
climate tech and the three Partners have navigated two economic cycles as
investors in the space. This team has now designed Kiko Ventures, which
leverages IP Group's evergreen platform to take a more flexible approach,
without the short time horizons, fixed capital constraints, and narrow
mandates that are common in the industry. Kiko is therefore exceptionally
aligned with entrepreneurs wanting to build category-leading companies for the
long term. The team aims to enrich the existing ecosystem and become a
reliable partner, to both entrepreneurs and fellow investors, in building a
regenerative future.

 

Flexible cleantech champions

 

As an evergreen platform without a fixed 10-year investment mandate, Kiko
Ventures can be a highly flexible investor, able to do what's required. It can
be entrepreneurial through venture creation of new companies, invest at Seed
and Series A/B stage or choose to capitalise on opportunities in the public
capital markets. The team has extensive global experience in operating across
all these stages. As one of the largest climate-tech investors in Europe, Kiko
Ventures will primarily invest directly, and on occasion indirectly through
selected funds. It will combine this structural flexibility with a focus on
thematic areas where it can build deep expertise and value.

 

The team has historically made ambitious investments in high-conviction areas.
Examples include fuel cell firm Ceres Power, which the team helped to take to
unicorn exit; First Light Fusion, which recently achieved a world's first
fusion result; and Oxbotica, a pioneer in autonomous mobility software
supplying some of the world's largest companies like BP and ZF.

 

Over two decades, the team has taken hands-on operational and investment roles
steering innovative businesses through tough economic climates, including the
first cleantech boom and bust and the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, most of
the team started out with successful research careers in climate tech and so
combine commercial experience with an understanding of the deep technologies
behind many of the most transformative innovations. Through IP Group, Kiko
Ventures has a global footprint and a network of high-level contacts from labs
to board rooms. The team is in frequent communication with some of the world's
leading scientists and entrepreneurs, as well as a wide range of industry and
capital markets leaders. It has the network, the experience, and the evergreen
capital to act at scale and make a difference.

 

Robert Trezona, Founding Partner of Kiko Ventures said: "I believe in the
transformative power of climate technologies and have worked my whole career
to elevate ideas from the lab into practical usable solutions that can make
our world a better place. We've launched Kiko to unleash the full power of
human ingenuity by uniting ideas, expertise and capital to unlock a
sustainable future. To do this, we've created an investment model of truly
flexible capital that empowers change, rather than hindering it."

 

Jamie Vollbracht, Founding Partner of Kiko Ventures said: "My realisation
about the urgency of the climate crisis came shortly after leaving University
and I decided to devote my career to doing what I could to help. I found I was
most useful in commercialising innovative clean technologies and have sought
to develop better ways to help those technologies flourish ever since. Kiko
brings together all the insight I've been fortunate to glean over the past two
decades and I hope it will make an outsized positive impact on the journey to
a sustainable future."

 

Arne Morteani, Founding Partner of Kiko Ventures said: "The climate crisis is
the greatest challenge of our generation and from that challenge come new and
life-changing possibilities for a regenerative world. I have been a part of
the cleantech ecosystem for 20 years, most recently as a partner at a
traditional VC. With Kiko we are now adding a new approach providing flexible,
regenerative capital to address some of the most difficult challenges. We
strive to be an investor that is fit for purpose as well as profit."

 

ENDS

 

About Kiko Ventures

 

Kiko Ventures is the world's first evergreen cleantech venture investor.
Launched by the FTSE 250 listed investment firm IP Group, and using its
flexible capital structure, Kiko Ventures' purpose is to create new
possibilities for a regenerative future. Kiko Ventures is a highly flexible
investment platform that can be a long-term partner to climate tech innovators
and often tackles the most difficult and rewarding opportunities.

 

For more information see www.kiko.vc (http://www.kiko.vc)

 

Press contact

 

Aimee Soulsby | Burlington PR | aimee@burlington.cc
(mailto:aimee@burlington.cc)

Antonella Scimemi | Burlington PR | antonella@burlington.cc
(mailto:antonella@burlington.cc)

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