MMC Ventures has enjoyed a record year making a total of 12 investments in fast-growing UK businesses.
MMC has backed six new companies while continuing to support its existing portfolio.
The whole portfolio raised over GBP36m in total this year, of which GBP14m came from MMC.
According to UK Funders, Q3 2012 early-stage investment activity in the UK fell to a total of GBP117m. Including co-investment, MMC’s portfolio raised a total of GBP21m during Q3, which suggests up to 18 per cent of the market.
MMC led a USD8m fundraise at iJento, a leader in digital and multichannel customer intelligence. KnowledgeMill, which provides smart email management technology, raised GBP750,000 from MMC alongside GBP750,000 from co-investors. MMC led several other investments into fast-growing businesses across e-commerce, enterprise software and mobile, see here.
Within the portfolio, fundraising activity included Interactive Investor, the online stockbroker, which raised more than GBP5.5m (over GBP1.7m from MMC). Base79, one of Europe’s leading online video companies and the largest YouTube network in Europe, announced a USD10m strategic investment from The Chernin Group alongside participation from MMC. Travel business Love Home Swap raised GBP800,000 from MMC and others. Natural ventilation specialist Breathing Buildings secured funding from a syndicate of co-investors including MMC and the Berti Green Accelerator, an initiative supported by James Caan.
MMC’s portfolio also announced a number of experienced chairman and non-executive director appointments including David Kelly (Amazon, Lastminute, eBay, mydeco, Rackspace) and Sean Cornwell (Google, eHarmony) at Love Home Swap; Peter Norman (Psion, Sophos) at Knowledgemill; and Kevin Sargeant (Vent-Axia, Volution) at Breathing Buildings.
Bruce Macfarlane (pictured), managing partner at MMC Ventures, says: “The overall UK economy maybe growing slowly, and the talk may be of a scarcity in venture capital – but at MMC Ventures we continue to meet extraordinary companies that we are keen to back and work alongside. We see this as very positive for the UK in the long term. It’s exciting to be one of the most active venture investors at the moment.”
