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ANNOUNCEMENT OF £5M PROOF-OF-PRINCIPLE FUND FOR SPIN-OUT OPPORTUNITIES The University has signed a technology commercialisation agreement with IP Group plc, the developer of intellectual property based businesses, which will provide Proof-of-Principle (PoP) funding for the development and formation of new spin-out companies. The funding will be applied to projects to be identified and managed by UMI3 through UMIP. Under the terms of the agreement, IP Group's PoP funding facility has agreed to make available an initial facility of up to £5 million to provide capital to new PoP projects intended for commercialisation through spin-out companies. In return, IP Group will receive equity stakes in such spinout companies on preagreed terms. IP Group has the right to invest further in these companies as they progress. In addition, IP Group will provide access to its relevant experts, business building expertise, mentoring, coaching and co-investing networks, 8 5 recruitment and business support. IP Group's current portfolio comprises holdings in over 60 companies including Oxford Nanopore Technologies, the DNA sequencing development company, Revolymer, best known for its removable chewing gum and Xeros, which has received many accolades for its revolutionary clothes washing techniques with a much reduced requirement for water. To date, fifteen of the portfolio companies IP Group has backed have listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and one on ISDX. Clive Rowland, UMI3 CEO, comments: "IP Group offers excellent access to public market funding and expertise in university technology transfer developed over many years, and at a significant scale, which will be very valuable to the University in continuing to expand its spin-out activities. A far horizon of proof-of-principle and connected follow-on funding is critical to the success of university propositions, as is a deep understanding of early-stage technology investing which makes IP Group an ideal partner for us. Therefore we are very pleased to see IP Group as part of the University's enterprise community. I'm sure that this arrangement will be successful in improving the scale, quality and speed of companies spinning out from the University. This arrangement allows us to continue seemlessly with our spin-out PoP funding, given that the UMIP Premier Fund arrangement finished at the end of March." The agreement, which is a for a minimum term of four years, or five years subject to certain conditions, covers the majority of the areas of materials and clean technology, electronics and communications and all non-therapeutic life, medical and human sciences and information technology. Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive of IP Group, comments: "Manchester has an outstanding reputation in research, ranking third in the UK, as well as an impressive track record of innovation. This agreement augments our existing partnerships while also giving the Group access to an additional source of extremely high quality dealflow. We have been impressed not only with the pipeline of opportunities at the University but also with the professionalism of the technology transfer team. We are pleased to have entered into this agreement and look forward to working with the UMI3 team and making our first investments." UMIP's commercialisation process remains unchanged and University academics should contact their faculty-specific UMIP Commercialisation Executive to discuss any research which they feel has commercial potential. A full list can be found on page 5 of this newsletter.

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