Portfolio – Cambridge Raman Imaging loan facility

RNS

AIM: FIPP

28 June 2024

Frontier IP Group plc

("Frontier IP" or the "Group")

Portfolio news - Cambridge Raman Imaging loan facility of up to £0.6 million to support accelerated growth

Frontier IP, a specialist in commercialising intellectual property, announces that its portfolio company Cambridge Raman Imaging Ltd ("CRI" or the "Company") has put in place a loan facility with Frontier IP of up to £0.6 million (the "Loan Facility") to fund CRI's short-term working capital requirements during a period of accelerated growth. Upon completion of the Loan Facility, CRI has drawn down an initial £0.2m under the Loan Facility.

CRI has developed and patented graphene-enhanced ultra-fast fibre lasers for high-speed coherent Raman spectroscopy, initially for use in clinical diagnosis and biotech research. The Company, a spin-out from the University of Cambridge and the Politecnico di Milano in Italy, is combining its laser technology with advanced microscopy. The technology enables label free discovery of not just morphology but also chemical composition which is relevant for both diagnosis and research.

The technology launched earlier this year. Revenues to date are trending ahead of CRI's management expectations, with growth being accelerated by this working capital facility in advance of a planned equity round that is anticipated for CRI in the coming months.

The key terms of the Loan Facility are:

a)    Frontier IP grants to CRI an unsecured term loan facility of a total principal amount not exceeding £600,000;

b)    the Loan Facility will bear interest at a rate of 10% per annum from the date on which the first loan amount under the Loan Facility is drawn by CRI;

c)    CRI shall use all money borrowed under the Loan Facility for general working capital purposes;

d)    the Loan Facility shall have availability to CRI until 31 December 2024;

e)    CRI may, on any business day until 31 December 2024, drawdown on the Loan Facility by sending Frontier IP a duly completed drawdown request with the aggregate amount not exceeding £600,000;

f)     the amount of each drawdown by CRI must be not less than £10,000 and must correspond to CRI's anticipated revenues from any purchase orders received, tenders issued or sales invoices raised;

g)    any amount of the Loan Facility not drawdown by 31 December 2024 will automatically be cancelled;

h)    CRI shall repay to Frontier IP each drawn down amount within 5 working days of receipt of the corresponding cash received from relevant purchase orders or sales invoices;

i)     any amounts outstanding under the Loan Facility within 30 working days of 31 December 2024 shall be paid in full by 31 December 2024; and

j)     the CRI board has discretion to allow other participants to provide financing under the terms of the agreement up to the amount of £600,000.

As at the date of this announcement Frontier IP has advanced an initial drawdown of £0.2 million to CRI. In addition, Frontier IP holds a 26.81 per cent. equity stake in CRI.

For the year ended 31 December 2023, CRI had net losses of £422k with net liabilities of approximately £28k based on unaudited statutory accounts.

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ABOUT FRONTIER IP

Frontier IP unites science and commerce by identifying strong intellectual property and accelerating its development through a range of commercialisation services. A critical part of the Group's work is involving relevant industry partners at an early stage of development to ensure technology meets real world demands and needs.

The Group looks to build and grow a portfolio of equity stakes and licence income by taking an active involvement in spin-out companies, including support for fund raising and collaboration with relevant industry partners at an early stage of development.