Oxford Early Investments: Current Investment Opportunities

Hospital trusts report equipment losses and also significant procedure delays in bringing required equipment to where it is needed because they do not know where it is.

Company A combines an equipment storage ‘stations’ with operational software. They place their product in key locations throughout a hospital or care facility – say two per floor - which securely store almost any movable equipment from wheelchairs to infusion pumps, and automatically keeps track of their usage in real time.

The software allows a staff member at any hospital computer terminal to display the nearest location of the equipment they need. The equipment is released only to authorized personnel by means of a staff ID card . After use the equipment is simply pushed back into any station. A full record is maintained of each retrieval and return event. It keeps equipment secure and corridors tidy.

The system is easy to install, fully scalable, rugged construction, low maintenance, and costeffective. It integrates simply with existing systems, is fully accredited, and addresses NHS QIPP (quality, innovation, productivity and prevention) commitment.

Company B's product is a free virtual world that combines social gaming, football sticker collection/trading, fantasy football and education for 7-13-year-olds; it also motivates the children to play sport and undertake healthy activity in the real world. For teachers it provides free lesson plans, activity sheets and whole class online resources. For parents it offers free academic analysis of their child’s game scores, provides them with recommended games for their child to improve academic performance and the ability to incentivise their child with virtual rewards.

Company B is the only website that combines games, football and curricular education. It went live in October 2009 and already has over 75,000 registered users. Partners include The FA, European Schoolnet and the Global Grid for Learning with ongoing discussion with Espresso Education, LP+ and the Football League. The company have an agreement in place with Liverpool FC for a club-specific version for the 2010/11 season, and ongoing discussions with several other clubs as well as the Premier League itself for a ‘whole league solution’. They also have The Independent and Match of the Day magazine as media partners.

Agreements are also in place with The ICC for a global cricket product: Twentee, and Premier Rugby for a rugby product: Rugbee. They are also in discussions with The LTA for a tennis product and NFL Europe for an NFL product

Company C has developed a revolutionary sherbet confection designed to replace Red Bull. Company C's crystals are poured directly onto the tongue, and then eaten like a sweet. The sweet fits inside a wallet and can be eaten at anytime without the need for water. It is low in calories and can be used for work, driving, sports, studying and numerous other activities. Company C uses patent pending drug delivery technology to mask the flavour of the caffeine and delivers it over 4 hours, making it is the smallest, strongest, most portable, and most efficacious energy product on the market today. Already sold in over 200 forecourts around the UK, including Welcome Break, Company C has outsold Red Bull Energy Shots 2 to 1.

They are looking to raise £250,000 as part of a larger £1million round for working capital, expanded management and support of distribution with appropriate advertising.

The total market for energy drinks is over $12bn, and the UK represents a £700m opportunity. Energy shots, small concentrated versions of drinks sell $1bn per year in the US alone. No new technology is used & consumers have shown they are willing to pay a premium for convenience. 5-hour energy the first energy shot sold in the US achieved over $200m sales in 3 years.

Driven by concerns about CO2 emissions and peak oil, and backed by unprecedented amounts of public and private investment ($60bn in 2009), there are now 200 companies in the world manufacturing electric cars. It is predicted that they will produce some 48 million of these vehicles over the next 10 years.

However, there are indications that consumers will not buy into the electric vehicle revolution until the problems of high cost and limited range are resolved. Company D’s micro gas turbine range extender has been tipped by industry experts as a possible solution. Their patented axial flow technology enables the production of efficient micro gas turbines that are a fraction of the size and weight of conventional piston engines, can run on multiple fuels and are inherently clean burning. Furthermore, with 5% of the parts count, they will cost considerably less to produce.

The Company, in conjunction with its partners Jaguar Land Rover and leading electrical machine manufacturer SR Drives (Emerson Group), recently won a peer assessed competition for funding from the Technology Strategy Board’s Low Carbon Vehicle program for a £2.4 million project to develop an ultra lightweight range extender.

Company D is seeking to raise a further £2 million to enable it to achieve key milestones that will make it attractive to strategic investors/acquirers.

Company C's product is child bicycle with a bike fitting kit to an adult bike. A parent can convey a child on the back of their bicycle to school or a park, and when the seat is removed it turns into a small tricycle in just 52 seconds, so the parent and child can cycle together, or the parent can push the tricycle with the handle which is also included in the kit. It is a 3-in-1 product: a child bike seat, a child tricycle and a child push tricycle.

R&D to date has been £180,000 funded by the inventor to include design, patents, trademarks, prototypes, and Chinese manufacturer, Jermany Ltd, whose major manufacturing client is Disney.

This innovation is patent pending searches indicate no relevant prior art. Following two meetings and a design review with a major UK bicycle retailer a second prototype has been constructed, and they await a BOM in order to continue negotiations for distribution.

The company requires funding for tooling , production prototypes, get packaging designed obtain BSI certification (EN71 1, 2 and 3 – toys and EN14344 – child seat), build market awareness and a web based shop.