IP : Alesi Surgical Ltd - Raises €6m (£5.2m) to accelerate commercialisation of breakthrough product Ultravision

1. Alesi Surgical develops and commercialises products that improve the safety, efficiency and outcomes of advanced surgical procedures

2. The company was founded in 2009 as a spin-out from the Welsh Institute for Minimal Access Therapy (WIMAT), with the vision of becoming a world leader in surgical devices. Part of Cardiff University, WIMAT runs multi-disciplinary training courses across a range of surgical and medical specialties and is the busiest multi-disciplinary training centre in the United Kingdom.

3. For more information, visitalesi-surgical.com

4. Alesi Surgical is based at Cardiff Medicentre,the dedicated medical, healthcare, and life sciences business incubator located on the University Hospital of Wales campus. The latter is also home to Cardiff University's School of Medicine. Cardiff University is Wales's leading Higher Education Institution for innovation, ranked 7 in the UK and 45 in Europe for innovation by Thomson Reuters.

5. Finance Wales was established by the Welsh Government in 2001 and provides commercial funding to small and medium-sized businesses throughout Wales to enable them to realise their potential for innovation and growth. The company is part of the Finance Wales Group and in 2015-16 the Group invested £63 million through 268 debt-equity investments in growing businesses. The Finance Wales Group, one of the UK's largest SME investors, has in excess of £990 million of funds under management across all SME investment fund and the Help to Buy - Wales scheme. The Group has invested more than £484 million through more than 4,018 investments.

6. IP Group is a leading intellectual property commercialisation company which focuses on evolving great ideas, mainly from its partner universities, into world-changing businesses. The Group has pioneered a unique approach to developing these ideas and the resulting businesses by providing access to business building expertise, capital (through its 100%-owned FCA-authorised subsidiary IP Capital), networks, recruitment and business support. IP Group has a strong track record of success and its portfolio comprises holdings in approximately 100 early-stage to mature businesses across four main sectors - Biotech, Cleantech, Healthcare and Technology. The Company is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the code IPO. For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com.

7. About Panakes Partners

Panakès Partners is a Venture Capital investor that finances medical companies, early stage startup and SMEs, with extremely promising products and great ambition, in Europe and Israel, improving both patient outcomes and healthcare economics. Investments focus on the medical device, diagnostics and healthcare IT fields. Panakès Partners is headquartered in Milan, Italy. www.panakes.it.

8. About Earlybird

Earlybird is a venture capital investor focused on European technology companies. Founded in 1997, Earlybird invests in all growth and development phases of a company. Amongst the most experienced venture investors in Europe, Earlybird offers its portfolio companies not only financial resources, but also strategic and operational support as well as access to an international network and capital markets. With over EUR 850 million under management, six IPOs and 22 trade sales, Earlybird is one of the most successful venture capital firms in Europe.

For further information: www.earlybird.com, Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/EarlybirdVC.LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/earlybird-venture-capital or Facebook: www.facebook.com/EarlybirdVC