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GEIFV, CREATE AND ANGEL INVESTORS COMPLETE A £900,000 INVESTMENT IN CAMRIVOX The GEIF Ventures Early Growth Fund (GEIFV), CREATE East of England Fund and a syndicate of GEIF and other angel investors, have completed a fundraising of up to £900,000 with Cambridge based Camrivox Limited (Camrivox), one of four winners in the East of England prestigious "Running the Gauntlet" competition. - 18 March 2006 Camrivox is a designer, developer and manufacturer of easy to use products for Voice over Internet Protocol solutions (VoIP), which allow home users and small businesses to make free phone calls over the internet. The investment monies, which will be paid in three tranches, will be used to enable Camrivox to build strategic partnerships with manufacturers and VoIP wholesalers, recruit senior business development and sales expertise and work towards a revenue generating position. "Camrivox's key advantage is that our products are much easier to install and use than others in the market," said David Moorhouse, co-founder and VP of marketing at Camrivox. "This helps to drive mass market adoption whilst reducing support costs for service providers. "GEIFV and CREATE have agreed to invest up to £300,000 in Camrivox, with a further £600,000 being invested by Cambridge business angels including Phil O'Donovan who has been appointed as company Chairman, and angels from the GEIF and other Cambridge networks. Max Bautin, fund manager of GEIFV said: "From an initial entry of over 400 companies, Camrivox was one of four winners in the Running the Gauntlet competition in November 2005. At the time GEIFV pledged to participate in a syndicate of angel investors to help secure investment funding for the company and we are pleased to see this happen. "He went on to say: "We were very impressed by Camrivox's founders team and consider its business to have great potential. It is our eighteenth investment in the three years since launch and we are delighted to have been able to help the entrepreneurs behind these companies fulfil their growth aspirations." For further information: GEIF Ventures Early Growth Fund GEIF Ventures is a £5 million fund within the NW Brown Group established in early 2003 with the commitment by the SBS to co-invest with GEIF business angels into promising seed and early stage businesses. GEIFV is able to invest up to £500,000 per company (up to £100,000 in the first round) and to date has invested over £2.6m into 18 seed and early stage companies. www.geifventures.co.uk Camrivox Camrivox was set up in January 2005 and operates from St John's Innovation Centre. VoIP is a disruptive technology that allows telephone calls to be placed over the internet, providing cost reductions, service enhancements for end users and an additional phone line. Camrivox's initial product is a VoIP adaptor that connects to the user's conventional telephone and to their existing broadband internet connection to make and receive calls without the need for a PC. The company's products are designed to be used in conjunction with a VoIP service provider. www.camrivox.co.uk CREATE The CREATE East of England Fund is a £20m fund managed by CREATE Partners, to invest in SMEs that are either based, or conduct a significant part of their business, in the east of England. Since mid 2003 the Fund as made 17 investments across various sectors ranging from seed capital to MBO. The CREATE East of England fund is a private fund whose investors include the European Investment Fund, Bank of Scotland and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). www.createpartners.com
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