GEIF WINS BUSINESS EXCELLENCE INVESTMENT AWARD

The Great Eastern Investment Forum is delighted to announce that it has won the Business Investment title of the 2003 Cambridge Evening News Business Excellence Awards.

The award, sponsored by Cheffins and presented during an impressive dinner held on 18 March in Kings College Great Hall, Cambridge, is in recognition of the significant impact that the Forum's angels made on the business community in 2003, during which they invested a total of £1.2m into high-growth companies from the East Anglian region & beyond.

This amount was bolstered by a further £800K in matched funding from GEIF Ventures (www.geifventures.co.uk), the £2.5m co-investment fund launched by GEIF in June 2003 in order to support and encourage GEIF angel investment into private equity, making a grand total of £2m - a figure GEIF was extremely pleased with given the economic climate of last year. "Just under half of the companies that presented to the Forum were successful in sourcing funding from GEIF angels - this is an incredible statistic, and proof that angels are still investing if the idea, the team and the business opportunity are right", commented Andrea Blakesley, GEIF Manager.

Described as a 'blue print for business angels' in the CEN's post-award coverage, GEIF continues to introduce companies drawn from a vast range of sectors to its angels. Successful companies, such as Reality Telecom ('virtual switchboards'), Casient (wireless intelligent building controls) and Spice Inns (contemporary restaurant chain), will all have been put through an intensive investment grooming process by the GEIF team in order to help them pitch their business opportunity as succinctly and successfully as possible.

The Forum was also recognised for the continuing impact of its breakfast meetings - regularly attended by c.150 people from the investment community in the region eager to listen to one of the four keynote speakers introduced each year.

The Great Eastern Investment Forum is part of the NW Brown Group Ltd, the Cambridge-based financial services group, and was founded in 1995 by Nigel Brown in response to market demand from both investors and entrepreneurs. Membership of GEIF is open to both existing angel investors and those considering angel investment for the first time. For more information please contact andrea.blakesley@geif.co.uk

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