Octopus Investments has made an investment of GBP2m into UltraSoC Technologies, a provider of technology for embedded systems used in electronic applications from automotive to consumer products such as mobile phones.
The investment in UltraSoC represents the 22nd deal concluded by Octopus this year.
UltraSoC is developing UltraDebug, an advanced debugging technology for multiple processor systems that will be used to debug the application software that provides the functionality and performance in modern electronic systems.
UltraSoC was founded in 2006 by Dr Karl Heeks and Professor Klaus McDonald-Maier and spun out from the Universities of Kent and Essex in 2008. The core technology was funded at the research stage by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
In 2009 UltraSoC closed a seed funding round of GBP400,000 from the South East Seed Fund and Iceni Seedcorn Fund, which enabled it to open an office in Cambridge and progress the research work into a technology demonstrator.
The investment provided by Octopus will help develop the technology platform to a licensable product. This will involve the expansion of the technical and marketing capability in Cambridge.
Luke Hakes, from Octopus, says: “UltraSoC epitomises the type of early-stage business we are looking to partner with at Octopus. The core team and its advisory board are of an exceptional standard and they have the drive and ambition we search for in our own staff. We believe they are capable of delivering a world class, market-changing product that will be very difficult to displace. We are looking forward to working with the team to help them achieve this goal.”
Karl Heeks, chief executive of UltraSoC, adds: “We are delighted to have closed this series A investment with Octopus and believe that their experience and contacts, as well as their funding, will bring much additional value to our company.”
Funds were provided from the Octopus Titan VCT funds, the Eureka EIS Portfolio Service and the Octopus Venture Partners.
