China’s Galaxy World Group has announced a $30 million strategic investment in the British developer of intellectual property-based business, the IP Group.
The deal will be sorted out by 18 August 2017 but it will see Galaxy cooperate with the IP Group in various fields including potential co-investment in IP Group’s portfolio companies and continued exploration of further collaboration in both China and the UK.
Three other institutions are also joining this round as new investors – renowned Singaporean investment firm Temasek Holdings, British asset manager M&G and Australia’s Telstra in addition to support from IP Group’s existing shareholders.
IP Group is a listed British company that commercialises intellectual property from the world’s leading universities and research institutions.
The IP Group team has spent many years developing its approach to identifying attractive intellectual property (“IP”), nurturing and building businesses around such IP and then providing capital and support along the journey from “cradle to maturity”.
IP Group works in close cooperation with many top universities in countries including the UK, the US, Australia, and New Zealand.
According to IP Group’s announcement, the funds raised this time around will be used to support cooperation with elite universities around the world to commercialise outstanding intellectual property. Since its founding, IP Group has a proven track record of success with the gross internal rate of return (IRR) on its portfolio approximating 19 per cent and has created more than 2,000 new jobs.
Maodong Xu, the chairman of Galaxy Group, said: “The strategic investment into IP Group marks an important step for Galaxy to build a global entrepreneurial growth network. The cooperation with IP Group would enable us to quickly introduce cutting-edge technological projects in fields including the Internet, big data and AI from global top universities and will, in the form of co-funding, help these projects be in shape for a strong foothold in China.
In this way the world’s state-of-the-art research findings would be converted into technology products and applications so as to propel China’s industries to incorporate the Internet and smart technologies”.
Apart from its UK office, Galaxy Group has set up offices in countries including the US and Israel. The group’s global entrepreneurial growth network has already taken shape. By offering fundamental entrepreneurial services and playing the role of co-founder and industrial investor superpower, Galaxy Group’s network empowers start-ups with a highly friendly platform and helps them grow and compete in a better environment.
