Seven Spires Portfolio Companies
The companies in our portfolio are listed (in alphabetical order) below. The companies are spread across the technology sector and each one has strong intellectual property. They have products which are potentially disruptive, through price, functionality or both. Averaged over the portfolio our investment amount in each company is significantly in excess of £1m.
 
Blue Whale Mail – Advertising-supported, Blackberry-style ‘push’ email to mobiles. BlueWhaleMail™ is software you add to your mobile phone that lets you send and receive email. The company does not charge the user anything. Instead, when viewing email, there is a small ad at the top. The company makes money by selling that advertising space. The only cost to the user is what the network operator charges for using their data network. The software will be specifically oriented towards social networking users and applications. 
Circadian Solar - Solar Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) Systems. A full-spectrum solar energy company with co-designed GaAs multi-junction cells, Fresnel lenses, modules and trackers. 
Lein Applied Diagnostics- Non-invasive blood glucose measurement Lein have developed a totally non-invasive method to determine blood glucose levels through optical observation of the eye. The current, table-top device will be engineered down to a pocket device with which a clinician or diabetic patient can rapidly determine blood glucose level. 
Malvern Cosmeceutics – Solubilisation of active agents for transdermal delivery The company has developed Lipodisq (trade-marked and patent pending), solubilisation technology for hydrophobic active agents to facilitate effective transdermal delivery in the fields of cosmetics, cosmeceuticals or pharmaceuticals. 
Metalysis – Electrolytic winning of high-value metals Metalysis are developing the Cambridge FFC process for direct reduction of metal oxides to pure metals through molten salt electrolysis. As the metal itself is never molten, the process requires low energy input and has low environmental impact through emissions. Near net shape product can be obtained from pre-shaped, compressed oxide powder. The process can also produce alloys in a completely novel way; a reduction of a blend of oxides will produce a metal alloy which has never melted. Tantalum and Titanium are among the early targets for the company.
Oxford YASA Motors: High torque density electric motors OYM are developing and selling an axial-flux, permanent magnet, electric motor technology originally developed at Oxford University. The initial focus is on drivetrain applications in the niche automotive sector. As well as high performance cars, the motor will be adapted for aerospace, renewable and industrial applications where improved power to weight performance combined with the ability to offer more compact electric drive systems will offer significant commercial advantage to customers. 
Oxsensis – Optical sensors for extreme environments Oxsensis have developed proprietary technology for measuring pressure and other physical variables at extremely high temperatures. An early application is very fast pressure sensing inside gas turbine engines. Oxsensis devices will help create substantial reductions in greenhouse gases and fuel consumption when incorporated into engine control systems. 
Short Fuze – ‘MovieStorm’ movie creation software Short Fuze has created a software product with a novel, high-level interface which allows users quickly to create computer-generated movies. At one extreme it is perfectly possible to create a short, simple movie over lunchtime and upload your creation to, say, Youtube. At the other extreme, users can create complex, highly-watchable, plot-driven movies with multiple interacting CG actors. Many examples are already on the web. The core product is available free of charge. 
Silistix – CHAIN – Chip-area Interconnect Design Technology The company has developed an advanced EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tool for rapid, custom creation of clockless, on-chip networks. The networks are specifically designed for connecting together disparate IP blocks on ASIC devices. The networks have low power requirements as they work in asynchronous mode and need no system clock. They support modularisation and can greatly reduce the timing closure problem. 
Warwick Effect Polymers – Synthesis of functionally-designed block co-polymers WEP are experts in the synthesis of block, comb and other structural polymers. Their proprietary technology gives very tight control over structure and molecular weight. Their PolyPEG technology substitutes linear PEG for a branched structure with much improved breakdown characteristics for PEGylating drugs. Other applications include cosmetics, inks and dispersants. |
