Qinetiq to speed technology investment growth
QinetiQ is creating a new technology venture fund in conjunction with Coller Capital to accelerate the development and realisation of seven of its venture investments. The fund will manage seven Qinetiq start ups, including ZBD Displays.
The fund, called Qinetiq Ventures, has been established to allow the investments to operate independently with a long term capital commitment. The fund, to be managed by an independent investment manager, will have initial assets of £40million, with QinetiQ and Coller each contributing up to £20m of follow on funding.
The fund will partially or wholly own seven of Qinetiq’s venture assets. Alongside Omni-ID, which is developing low cost passive rfid technology, Quintel, which is working on next generation antenna systems, and ZBD Displays, which is developing bistable lcds, the fund will also manage Aurix, Metalysis, QinetiQ Nanomaterials and Stingray Geophysical.
QinetiQ had already invested another £3.5m in ZBD Displays in March as the lead in a £10.5m funding round. ZBD was the first spin out from QinetiQ in July 2000.
