Oxford Capital leads second tranche of investment in Concurrent Thinking

Venture Capitalist Oxford Capital has led a £1 million second round funding into Concurrent Thinking, a leading provider of High Performance Computing (HPC) systems and software alongside the Mercia Fund and Midven’s Advantage Growth Fund.

The investment follows the successful completion of Concurrent Thinking’s research and development programme.  It will predominantly be used to fund international sales and marketing of the its newly released products concurrentCommand, concurrentControl and concurrentProcess which deliver and support high performance High Performance Computing clusters.  Some funds will also be used to further expand the company’s product portfolio.

Dr Michael Rudgyard, CEO and founder, Concurrent Thinking says:

“Our aim is to enable hardware resellers and system integrators to deliver HPC cluster systems in a scalable and repeatable manner.  This strategy is borne out of our experience with our Streamline Computing trading division, which has been extremely successful as the UK’s leading HPC cluster provider.

“By embedding the company’s know-how within an appliance framework, and augmenting this with comprehensive system management and content management capabilities, we can considerably simplify the process of building and supporting complex HPC systems. We welcome the continued support of our investors in helping us to expand and scale our business.”

Dr Victor Christou, senior investment manager, Oxford Capital says:

“Many of the UK’s leading companies are now usingHPC clusters as a powerful and cost effective means to increase their computing power by taking advantage of the parallel processing power of clusters of computers.

“The two most important challenges facing HPC customers are the need for better system management software and for highly parallelised software.  With the new appliance products, as well as the existing parallel development tools that are sold under the Allinea Software brand, we believe that Concurrent Thinking is well equipped to make a significant impact on the growing Worldwide HPC marketplace”. 

Mark Payton, fund principal for the Mercia Fund, says:

“As a leading provider of investment into high growth technology businesses based in the West Midlands, and as an existing investor in Concurrent Thinking, we are delighted to continue our support for management as they drive the expansion of the business”.

Concurrent Thinking recently demonstrated their new products at the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) in Dresden, Germany, June 17-20th.

-ends-

For further information please contact:

Concurrent Thinking

Michael Rudgyard, Chief Executive, Concurrent Thinking                             01926 623130

Oxford Capital

Victor Christou, Senior Investment Manager, Oxford Capital Partners          01865 860760

Mike Lord, Lord Public Relations                                                                    07831 401 311

Mercia Technology Seed Fund

Mark Payton, Fund Principal, Mercia Technology Seed Fund                        07811 435199

Midven Limited

Name, title, Advantage Growth Fund                                                              0121 710 1990

Notes to editors

About Concurrent Thinking Ltd

Based in Warwick (UK), Concurrent Thinking Ltd (www.concurrent-thinkings.com) is known through its trading divisions Streamline Computing (www.streamline-computing.com), the UK’s leading cluster integrator, and Allinea Software (www.allinea.com), an innovative HPC tools provider. Concurrent’s new HPC appliances encapsulate the company’s significant expertise in cluster computing, as well as the considerable experience it has gained in the delivery and support of these systems for large numbers of academic and commercial customers.

About Oxford Capital

Founded in 1999 Oxford Capital (www.oxcp.com) is a venture capital firm working on behalf of institutional and private investors.  Its focus is on emerging science and technology and its expertise lies in accelerating businesses with potential for high growth in global markets.


Oxford Capital currently oversees a portfolio of around 30 companies in a range of technology sectors, focusing on three super-growth themes: healthcare, communications and sustainability.  It invests across all stages of development, from start-up to IPO and it works with portfolio companies to accelerate them into international markets in Europe, the US, Middle East and Asia.

The company innovated by pioneering the tax efficient Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) Fund and manages £36 million in five Oxford Gateway EIS Funds.

Oxford Capital is located at the heart of Europe’s largest agglomeration of scientific clusters.  This region is renowned as a centre of excellence in the many new fields of science and applied technologies and is the base for numerous technology businesses, research institutions, laboratories, universities, scientists and entrepreneurs.

Awards

·         Unquote Private Equity Awards 2005.
Winner: Venture Capital House of the Year

·         Enterprise Investment Scheme Association Awards 2006.
Winner: Best EIS Fund Manager

·         Investor Allstars Awards 2006.
Winner: Young Personality of the Year (David Mott)

·         The Private Equity Awards 2006.
Finalist: House of the Year

·         UK Technology Innovation & Growth Awards 2006.
Finalist: Early Stage Investor of the Year Award

·         Investor Allstars Awards 2005.
Finalist: Venture Capital Fund of the Year, Young Personality of the Year, and International Deal of the Year

About Mercia Technology Seed Fund (MTSF)

MTSF (www.merciafund.co.uk) is a £13m technology fund investing in start up companies and other early stage technology-based ventures located in the West Midlands. It is managed by Birmingham-based WM Enterprise*, a leading provider of specialist venture capital finance with approximately £90m of funds under management throughout England. One of the key investors in the MTSF is Advantage West Midlands, the regional development agency for the West Midlands.

In addition to the MTSF, WM Enterprise manages/advises a number of funds across the country including:

·          South East Growth Fund

·          North West Equity Fund

·          Baring English Growth Fund

MTSF typically invests in companies based in the West Midlands with high growth prospects that have a robust and developed proprietary product or technology platform.

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