Frontier IP Group PLC has announced a loan facility of up to £0.6 million to support its portfolio company, Cambridge Raman Imaging Ltd (CRI), during a period of accelerated growth. CRI, a spin-out from the University of Cambridge and the Politecnico di Milano, 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 loan facility will fund CRI's short-term working capital requirements, with an initial drawdown of £0.2 million.
The technology launched earlier this year, and revenues are trending ahead of CRI's management expectations. The loan facility is expected to accelerate the company's growth ahead of a planned equity round in the coming months. The loan facility has been structured with key terms, including an unsecured term loan facility, an interest rate of 10% per annum, and availability until 31 December 2024. CRI is required to use the borrowed funds for general working capital purposes and must repay each drawn-down amount within 5 working days of receiving corresponding cash from relevant purchase orders or sales invoices.
Frontier IP holds a 26.81% equity stake in CRI and has advanced an initial drawdown of £0.2 million to the company. For the year ended 31 December 2023, CRI had net losses of £422k with net liabilities of approximately £28k based on unaudited statutory accounts. Frontier IP Group PLC specializes in commercializing intellectual property and works to involve industry partners at an early stage of development to ensure technology meets real-world demands and needs.