In a revolutionary development, i-Path’s whole-slide digital scanning technology replaces conventional microscopy, alloweing enormous medical images to be stored and viewed online simultaneously anywhere in the world.

The company, which was spun out of Queen’s University Belfast in 2005 under the leadership of Professor Peter Hamilton, has also developed a growing portfolio of owned content which enables it to offer a range of tailored solutions in the fields of academia and professional cometency training.

Hal Wilson, Investment Manager of Crescent Capital said: “We are delighted to be backing i-Path on the next stage of its development alongside existing investors QUBIS Ltd and the University Challenge Fund.

“The migration of pathology into the digital world is a stronger driver to the increasing uptake of i-Path’s leading solutions and we believe that with the introduction of commerically proven leadership into the buisiness that the future is promising.”

Participating in the funding round and assuming the role of i-Path’s chief executive is Stuart Harvey, who co-founded Harco Technology in 1997 and led the company’s growth in London and Belfast.

By 2007, when it was acquired by US-based Wombat Financial Software, Harco had attracted 40 major investment banks as clients with installations in over 80 trading floors worldwide. The following year, both were sold to the New York Stock Exchange in Ireland’s largest financial services acquisition.

Commenting on i-Path Diagnostic, Stuart said: “This is a unique company possessing a talented team, a leading product and loyal customers, some of whom are the most influential in their sectors. I’mthrilled to have the opportunity to help the company build on the progress achieved to date.”

Crescent Capital, which is interested in investing between £250,000 and 2.25m in a range of sectors and stages, is NI’s largest venture capital firm with £36.5m under management.

The fund has a strong history, built over 14 years in the market, of investing in and supporting some of the region’s leading technology businesses, including Andor Technology, APT,Lagan Technologies and NiSoft.

View the financial and operational highlights here

From left to right: Mark Heffernan, Regina Breheny, Elaine Coughlan, Neil Simms and Deirdre Terrins

12th November 2008 – Deirdre Terrins, Investment Manager at Crescent Capital Ltd contributed her expertise as part of a five person panel to pick the best Seedcorn Investment opportunity for the Dublin region. In InterTradeIreland’s ‘All-Ireland Seedcorn Business Competition.’

Presentations to the panel from each candidate company lasted 15 minutes followed by a 15-20 minute question and answer session. Judges were encouraged to probe the entrepreneurs on the validity of the investment proposal and particular areas of the plans presented.

Elaine Coughlan – Co-Founding partner of Atlantic Bridge (ABVEN), a multi-stage private equity fund with assets of over 400 million Euros under management.

Regina Breheny – Manager of portfolio Investments by the Irish Government arising out of the State’s Financial support for industrial and technological development. Regina is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a member of the Institute of Taxation and of Investment Management and Research.

Mark Heffernan – CEO and Co-founder of Opsona Therapeutics. Opsona is presently a finalist in the 2008 Ernest and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Programme in the Emergency Company category.

Neil Simms (Chair) – Finance Director of, and an Investment Manager with, Claredon Fund Managers Ltd.

The competing companies for the two divisions were as follows:

Dublin Emerging International Company

1.) Aqueduct Investments
2.) Coolpower
3.) AltaScience

Dublin Emerging Company

1.) CandidatesDirect
2.) Q-Validus Presentation
3.) Flowers made Easy

About Deirdre

Deirdre has fifteen years corporate experience in managing new technology offerings and market creation. Following her first degree in Psychology she pursued her early career as a human factors engineer and research team director at Plessey/GPT. She completed her two post-graduate degrees in Artificial Intelligence (City) and Product Development (RCA) and was responsible for new product innovation working on communications, sensors and instrumentation for industrial manufacture, telecommunications, space and defence applications in collaboration with leading technology organisations including EDS, BT, GEC/Marconi, Televerket, IBM and the European Space Agency.

She managed innovative product development strategy at Siemens in UK and Germany where she undertook her MBA and management training whilst taking part in off pan-European ESPIRIT projects. Subsequently she led ‘intrapreneured’ spin outs for Xerox in the UK and US. Whilst at InConcert Inc (a Xerox New Enterprise Company) she led the ‘beach-head’ sales of process based workflow solutions (Manila) with multi-million $ deals to Inland Revenue (UK) with EDS, Swedish Tax Authority and the Office of Fair Trading (Case Management System) teamed with CMG among others. She also led on collaborative technology and licensing agreements with new partners including the InConcert Inc collaborations with Lucent Technologies (provisioning framework for telecoms services) and WorldCom.

Her track record in new product development includes successful introduction of ‘disruptive’ technologies and the creation of new markets in both public and private sectors. At Crescent Capital II Ltd Deirdre is an Investment Manager and is a director of MailDistiller Ltd and Omiino Ltd. She also acts as advisor on VC funding to developing companies as they go through their investment readiness activities. She is a regular guest ‘Dragon’ on competition and funding panels where she brings specialist expertise in commercialising core Intellectual Property and the formation of effective ‘top teams’ in entrepreneurial companies.

The winners of the two categories for the Dublin area and those of the other regions will be announced on the 27th November at the Dinner and Final Awards Ceremony at the Ramada Hotel. The InterTradeIreland All-Island Seedcorn Business Competition is a key event in the year for entrepreneurs in Ireland. It gives high-growth and emerging companies the opportunity to gain confidence and advice from professionals, VC’s and other funding bodies.

For small and medium enterprises planning expansion, or Management Buy Outs (MBOs) looking for initial investment or second stage financing, it’s certainly not the most conducive environment for finding capital funding.

Banks seem entrenched in self-preservation and are viewing funding requests through ultra-conservative spectables. So where, in this brave new world, do entrepreneurs and those still considering growth, go to fund their business plans?

Look at the costs

In the first case, sound advice would be to re-examine your cost base. Carefully and objectively consider which expenses are really adding value to your operation and which are redundant and may be redeployed in a manner that assists profitable growth. It is amazing what a crisis (albeit self-imposed) can do to focus the mind and assist us in looking at problems from a different perspective.

Once assured that you are indeed as efficient as is practicable, your expansion plans make sound economic sense and additional money is needed to drive the business forward, what other sources of funding are available to you? Using past experience as a guide to future trends, venture capital is one option worth exploring.

dot.com bubble

During the previous, significant stock market downturns, such as when the ‘dot.com bubble’ burst, there were some impressive accomplishments that bucked the trend. Benefiting from venture capital investments, btoh Skype and Google are examples of what can be achieved in the face of adversity.

Equity, as a component a total funding package, can also help leverage other funders such as banking and government backed grants.

The days of 100% debt funded MBOs and expansion are in the past. Venture capital funds have a current appetite to engage in buy-outs or buy-ins, bringing to the table a combination of capital that can unlock the transaction plus experience in change management, which can positively affect the new entity’s transition. Crescent Capital’s involvement with local companies suh as Andor, APT, Lagan Technologies and Nisoft are prime examples of how venture capital can work successfully.

Belfast based venture capital

Belfast based Crescent Capital specialises in funding local companies and understands the unique requirements of Northern Ireland firms. The company is well placed to advise and assist indigenous industry to effectively use their precious capital to create greatest value.

Venture Capital has an important part to play in economic growth, and in today’s atmosphere of parsimoniousbanking, it can play an even more significant role.

The gala evening celebrated the wealth of diversity working within the marketing industry.

Marketing Excellence Awards:

Property and construction sector

Winner - Walsin Ltd

Runner Up - Patton Group

Manufacturing Sector

Winner - Audio Processing Technology Ltd

Runner Up - CIGA Healthcare

Services Sector

Winner - CRASH Services & Navigator Blue

Runner Up - George Best Belfast City Airport

Information Sector

Winner - Independant News & Media

Runner Up -Hastings Hotel

Social and public Sector

Winner - W5

Runner Up- Southern Area Hospice Services

Professional Excellence Awards:

Best PR Campaign

Winner - Cathy Martin PR, Belfast Fashion Week

Runner Up - W D Irwins Bakery

Best Brand Programme

Winner - Belfast Zoological Gardens

Runner Up - CRASH Services & Navigator Blue

Best Marketing Team

Winner - Kestrel Foods Ltd

Runner Up - FG Wilson

The Professor William Award-Best Performing Young Marketing Company

Winner - CIGA Healthcare

Runner Up - FRANK

Best Performing Marketing Business

Winner - Audio Processing Technology Ltd

Runner Up - Translink

Personal Excellence Awards:

Young Marketer of the Year

Winner - Deborah King

Marketing Directors of the Year

Winner - Cathal Austin, The Quays Newry

Winner - Geoff Wilson, IFA

21.7% of Northern Ireland’s exports amounts to around US$2billin, going to North America in 2005/06. Northern Ireland has been leading trade missions to the USA for a number of years. ” Today alongside its continuing world-class indigenous engineering prowess, Northern Ireland is pursuing a vision to become a world class centre of knowledge-led companies and internationally rated university research institutes specialsing in biotechnology, information technology, nanotechnology, communications and digital media”, says Tersea Madden, Invest NI’s Missions Manager.

Gary Hamilton commented, ”this is a great opportunity for Omiino to coordinate with Northern Ireland’s regional economic development agency in order to maximize the effectiveness of our visit to Silicon Valley”, he continused, ” we can focus on facilitating productive meetings with both new and current business contacts, while Invest NI looks after the local logistics and assists us with market research.”

Omiino have heralded a new era for virtual ASSPs, with the launch of a range of unique products that delivers a highly efficient solutions for specific packet optical network (P-OTN) transport spplications, whether PDH or NG-SDH, Ethernet or OTN, 2MBit to 40GBits or beyond.

For further Information, Contact

Gary Hamilton

Gary.hamilton@omiino.com

Tel: +44(0)28 9099 7390

The top three spam categories that were found were fraud, phishing and health, closely followed by adult content and jewellery. They highlight that fruadsters are using current concerns regarding the banking system to attempt to deceive customers into parting with their personaland financial information.

Maildistiller’s chief executive Ian Jeffers, said: ” The low level of legitimate emails points to an  increasingly hazardous email environment for personal and corporate email users. ”

Users still face problems with regards to viruses and other threats on a daily basis even though there is a range of software out there to tackle the problem. Businesses and the individual must try to combate this increasing problem.

 Maildistiller finished trails for its illicit image detection service, Image Analyser. This software is an extension of its managed service to protect companies from spam and viruses.The company has a research and development centre in Northern Ireland, Science Park, and is currently ahead of schedule for commercial launch.

Research has shown that 27% of companies have battled sexual harassment claims as a result of employee misuse of corporate email systems. This new software is to be used by the company’s Image Analyser and will be able to scan emails and attachments coming in to and out of the company’s email system and stoping those that it detects to be illicit.

Maildistiller has an aim of becoming one of the top 5 managed email filitering companies and is currently the largest provider in Ireland and filters on average 1.5 million emails every day.

Since the credit crisis there has been an increase in phishing during September and October, with a 103% increase, targeting mainly banks, credit unions and online retialer sites. Scammers are taking an advantage of the frenzy around the mergers and bailouts by targeting large banks like RBS, Bank of America and Lloyds.

MessageLabs is a US provider of messaging and web security to businesses worldwide. They intercepted 7,000 phishing attacks towards Bank of America, which doubled the next day. Mark Summer, the chief security analyst of MessageLabs, said, ” It’s crucial that everyone is aware of potential threats and is educated on how to avoid falling victim to them.” 

SonicWALL, another internet security company, saw the first phishing messages to hit the inboxes related to the banking-related crisis. Scammers were asking customers to verify personal information on theirselves using a false Chase Manhattan website.

Andy Klein of SonicWALL said: ” Banking customers will see a series of phishing emails asking for personal and finaicial details over the coming months and it is imperitive to stay alert during this period of uncertainty.”

Indentifiying phishing emails can be seen when an email will direct a customer to a website that will look identical, at a glance to their own banks website. If a customer enters the site and their own personal information, the bogus website is programmed to send this on to other sites with phisher controls. This information can then be transfered around different sites in a multi-layered concealment from law enforcement agencies.  

APT’s apt-X audio codec technology provides Creative with outstanding audio qualitym, ultra low latency, and strong error resilience that enhance the user experience and versatility of digital audio delivered over short-range wireless connectivity. Potential applications of apt-X in Creative products include stereo headsets, wireless speaker products and home entertainment systems.

Commenting on the agreement, Mike Canevaro, VP Licensing Business Development of APT said: “Creative helped lauch the multimedia revolution in consumer electronics and has forged relationships with some of the industry’s top technology companies and developers worldwide, fortifying its strength and leadership in product innovation and research and development. APT anticipates an exciting future for apt-x through this new technology agreement with Creative, and together we will deliver solutions that today’s discerning consumer is demanding.”

Famous for its Sound Blaster®sound cards for personal computers and gaming, Creative continues to demonstrate an aggressive commitment to settling new standards for digital audio quality through technology innovation. Likewise, through on-going investment into research and development, APT has successfully delivered high-fidelity, real-time audio codec technology - namely Enhanced apt-X, apt-x for wireless, apt-X Live, apt-x Voice - through licensing agreements into broadcast, pro audio, audio-over-IP, and consumer electronics markets.

About apt-X

apt-X is a real-time digital audio data reduction system that compresses linear audio samples by a factor of 4:1 with no perceptible audible degradation and with negligible delay. apt-X is regarded as the de facto standard for high quality audio delivery throughout the pro-audio and broadcast market with thousands of radio stations worldwide relying on apt-x technology. In the field of consumer audio, apt-X has also been adopted by man prestigious OEMs and manufacturers. Typical consumer applications include:

• Bluetooth perpherals
• Home Theatre
• Wireless Audio/Video
• PC Entertainment
• Portable and Mobile Devices
• Gaming peripherals
• Audio Storage

About APT

Formed in 1989, APT provides industry-leading audio processing technolgoy solutions to the broadcast industry and to consumer electronics manufacturers. The company’s apt-X audio codec technology has earned a reputation throughout the audio industry as the ultimate high-quality, low-delay audio data compression technique available. APT has two business divisions: Broadcast (hardware) and Licensing (intellectual property). APT hardware is sold to radio broadcasters, telecoms operators and professional recording studios; apt-X technology is licensed for use in high-quality audio devices, including portable multimedia players and music phones, Bluetooth stereo headsets, and wireless microphones. Headquartered in Belfast, Northern Ireland, APT has direct sales offices in Japan, Germany and the USA. apt also maintains a network of specialist distribution partners in over 30 countries throughout Europe, North America, and Asia.

Dynamic businesses across Northern Ireland will set the agenda for economic success over the next decade, a leading banker in the Prvince has claimed. Henry Elvin, Ulster Bank’s head of business banking, said the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to outhink their global competition was a critical factor in future growth.

Speaking today ahead of the next instalment in the Ulster Bank and Centre for Competitiveness (CforC) programme of “growth seminars” at the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel in Bangor tomorrow, he said many of Northern Ireland’s larger corporate businesses were already competing strongly in global markets and that SMEs must be highly enterprising in order to follow suit.

“The Northern Ireland economy enjoyed a period of prolonged economic growth which was driven to a large extent by government spending and the property boom,” he said. “Something else now needs to drive our economy in the years to come.”

“Larger export-oriented businesses will continue to be important in this regard and any foreign direct investment will be very welcome.

“However, it is the potential of our SMEs and their ability to exploit that potential which offers to be the major economic driver over the next 10 years and beyond.”

SMEs had many role models in dynamic local businesses but needed to discover the kind of innovation and enterprise that have driven the likes of Radox, Brett Martin, Lagan Technologies, APT,FG Wilson and others to global success, he added.

“This means availing of all the advice and help available, getting the right expertise and people behind them, putting in place systems and structures that will support ongoing innovation and being highly determined and ambitious. “Economic conditions are extremely challenging, but that doesn’t mean SMEs should just be waiting for the economy to turn around.”They should be doing everything they can now to take advantage of the opprtunities there are and positioning themselves as strongly as possible to capitalise fully when thing do turn around. I am confident that they can and will do so.”

nisoft logo belfast

Belfast - 05 September 2008 - Crescent Capital has provided funding to support the acquisition and management buy-out of Nisoft (UK) and its US subsidiary, Nisoft LLC. Nisoft is a leading provider of Safety Management Documentation Systems used by continuous processing facilities such as power stations and oil refineries throughout the world.

Participating in the funding and assuming the role of CEO is Doug Deardorf who posseses extensive industry and international market development experience. “This is a unique company possessing a talented team, a leading product and loyal customers, some of whom are the most influential in their sectors. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to help the company build on its rich legacy.”

Commenting on having initiated the buyout discussions with the two founders over a year ago Deardorf states, “I’m very pleased with how the transaction came together in partnership with Crescent Capital. From our introductory meeting, the team from Crescent has been both creative and supportive. Their involvement will be fundamental to our continued sucess.”

“With installations in over 200 customer sites worldwide, Nisoft is a leading supplier of safety management systems. This provides a strong base from which to expand the business in the markets it serves.” states Colin Walsh, Crescent’s Managing Director. “I was well aware of Nisoft’s accomplishments so when Doug contacted us and expressed his vision and plan for growth we were immediately interested.”

Nisoft was founded in the early 90’s and is proud of its Northern Ireland heritage. Adds Deardorf, “Our first customer was here in Northern Ireland and we are proud and honoured to be serving them to this day. The strong partnership we establish with our customers enables us to continuously enhance our products and services making our products as effective in Asia, Europe, The Middle East and America as it is in the UK.”

The company’s flagship product eclipse, has a direct and positive impact on some of the most fundamental aspects of its cutomers’ business including enhancing plant safety, reducing downtime and increasing a facility’s outout performance. These generate measurable finacial benefits. Eclipse integrates with leading Enterprise Asset Management system through a specialized interface component.

Nisoft’s corporate office and primary developement centre is in Belfast. Sales and support fuctions for Europe, Middle East and Africa are performed from Belfast. The US ans Asia/Pacific regions are supported from offices in Denver and Singapore.