Brandtone Limited
Brandtone is pioneering new ways of using mobile phone technology to build brands in fast growing consumer markets in South Africa, Brazil and Turkey. The company partners with some of the world’s leading brands and uses innovative mobile phone technology to profile and award consumers and collect data. Brandtone’s customers, typically large FMCGs, can create impactful, measureable, and targeted promotional campaigns for their products.
Unilever Ventures backed the founding management team in 2010 and in a subsequent round.
Froosh AB
Froosh is the leading smoothie company in Scandanavia with an award-winning product range of great-tasting natural drinks, made from 100% pure fruit with no additives or concentrates.
Unilever Ventures acquired a majority stake in the company in 2008.
SSI Limited
Salon and Spa International is Unilever’s beauty spa business. It operates spas in UK, Spain and Canada under Unilever’s Dove and Ponds brands and has an exclusive and extensive range of skincare products.
Unilever Ventures helped create and expand the business in 2002 and now manages Unilever’s investment in the company.
Rahu Catalytics Limited
Rahu Catalytics develops unique iron-ligand based chemistry for use in the rapidly growing environmentally friendly coatings, composites and inks markets. Since its founding in 2006, Rahu Catalytics has focused on the need for solutions that incorporate more renewable materials and deliver performance at lower energy, water and waste costs in the coatings industry. Since early 2009, the company has operated under an exclusive commercial agreement with OM Group with regards to its Borchi® OXY-Coat product line, which is being utilized by the market leaders in the global coatings industry.
Unilever Ventures invested in the business in 2003, after spinning the technology out from the Unilever Vlaardingen R&D facility in the Netherlands. Unilever Ventures sold its stake in Rahu Catalytics Ltd to OM Group in December 2011.
Voltea Limited
Voltea is helping to shape the future of the way people and industry use water. Voltea’s award-winning CapD-I technology generates clean, desalinated water with low energy consumption, no added chemicals and a high water recovery rate. The technology can be deployed in a wide array of applications, from industrial process water to domestic appliances. Voltea’s first two applications are in domestic water softeners and water treatment systems for cooling towers.
Unilever Ventures backed the creation of Voltea in 2006 and the acquisition of Biosource, the owner of the core technology in 2008.
Iota NanoSolutions Limited
Iota is commercialising a Unilever developed technology that enhances the solubility of poorly soluble chemicals. Its platform technology allows the transformation of insoluble materials into dry solid formats that form nano-dispersions on contact with liquids. Iota is actively exploiting its technology and expertise in collaboration with multinational companies in a variety of market sectors, but with particular focus on pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals.
Unilever Ventures has funded Iota since its spin-out from Unilever’s Port Sunlight lab in 2005 and was joined in 2011 by QIB(UK) who co-invested alongside UV.
Archimed
Archimed has developed two easy-to-use wound dressings that can help accelerate wound healing. The company’s products, Oxyzyme™ and Iodozyme™, were developed in the UK by a scientific team with a long history of medical innovation. Professor Paul Davis, Archimed’s CTO, patented the technology which enabled the development of the highly successful Clear-Blue™ pregnancy test.
Archimed was spun out of Insense in 2010. Unilever Ventures has been a significant shareholder in three of Prof. Davis’ stable of technology companies, which include Archimed, Arecor, and Insense.
Arecor Limited
Arecor has developed a unique technology that is used in the formulation of biopharmaceuticals. The company’s product, Arestat™, can stabilise protein-based drugs and vaccines from degradation associated with long-term storage or ionising radiation used in sterilisation. Arecor is collaborating with a number of pharmaceutical and biotech companies to develop recombinant proteins and vaccines for application in drugs, medical devices and diagnostics.
Unilever Ventures is Arecor’s lead investor.
BAC BV
BAC, The Bioaffinity Company, develops and manufactures affinity ligands and purification products for the biopharmaceutical industry. The company’s ‘CaptureSelect’ affinity and separation products are used for Biopharmaceutical manufacture and in Life Science research and have been designed into a significant number of manufacturing processes. They are based on a proprietary platform technology based on single domain antibodies derived from Camelids. BAC’s products enable a reduced time to market, increased purity and yield, and an overall lower cost of goods for biopharmaceutical development and manufacture.
BAC was a spin-out from Unilever’s Netherlands’ laboratories in 2002.
BrainJuicer
BrainJuicer PLC is a thriving market research consultancy dedicated to revolutionizing on-line consumer market research. BrainJuicer’s goal is to re-invent research by translating a generation of breakthroughs in psychology, behavioural economics and social sciences into tools that better understand and predict human behaviour. The company’s reputation as a thought leader and change agent puts them on the path towards becoming a leading global market research house.
Unilever Ventures invested in BrainJuicer in 2003. The company was listed on AIM in 2006. Unilever divested its stake through a series of share placements in 2010 and 2011, generating a 17x multiple on its investment.
Cyden Limited
CyDen is a leading developer of innovative products for light-based beauty and health treatment. Unilever Ventures invested in CyDen in 2008. CyDen’s first product for home use was ‘iPulse’, a hair removal device, which deploys the company’s clinically-proven Intense Pulsed Light technology. Under the brand name ‘Boots Smooth Skin’, the iPulse has become a top selling product since its launch in 2009.
Having supported the company through the launch and growth of its consumer business, validating its global potential, Unilever Ventures sold its stake in CyDen in January 2012 to the company’s lead shareholder.
Hydra Polymers Limited
Hydra’s proprietary technology is based on novel branched polymers. These unique three-dimensional structures enable viscosity reduction and create formulation space. Hydra’s branched polymers can be applied in a wide variety of product formulations, including coatings, inks, adhesives and sealants.
Hydra was a spin-out from Unilever’s R&D laboratory in Port Sunlight, near Liverpool, in 2007. Unilever Ventures has funded the company since its creation.
VHsquared Limited
VHsquared is a new biotechnology company set up to develop a portfolio of products targeted at benefitting gastro intestinal (GI) health. The company has the rights to antibody domain technology which had its origin in Unilever, which has developed the technology for functional foods applications and has carried out extensive clinical trials of a product to reduce the impact of rotavirus infection.
Unilever Ventures was a founding investor in the company and helped bring together management and the intellectual property. The Wellcome Trust was also a founding shareholder supporting the company with a Strategic Award. The company has close collaboration with the Wellcome Trust’s Sanger Institute, a world leading centre for research in pathogens.
P2i Limited
P2i is the world leader in liquid repellent nano-coating technology. The company’s revolutionary plasma process reduces the surface energy of a material, so that when liquids come into contact with it, they form beads and simply roll off. P2i’s customers can improve the performance of their products by protecting them from the effects of water and other liquids without affecting their look or feel. P2i’s plasma processing machines have been sold into the textile, consumer electronics, filtration and bioconsumables markets.
Unilever Ventures invested in the company in 2008 and has participated in subsequent funding rounds.