Yes you can.

Our files can be publicly available like these:

• A shot demo video of a Google Android phone
• A video preview of Google Wave on the iPhone
• Demo PDF file that is in our library with the two videos

Or they can be protected by a password like these:

• Another Android UI video (this will require the password “minerva” to view and don’t panic, it doesn’t have any sound on it)
• Demo PowerPoint presentation (this will also require the password “minerva” to download)

Best of all, we can drop our files into different folders, each with its own password so we can have some control over who can see what.

With the fully paid commercial version of the service, we can brand the playback page for our media with our own logo and colours.

And there is more…

We can also insert images in-line like the one below.

This is just our logo, but it could be a photo, screen shot or anything.

Background and introduction

Their most recent innovation, a personal cooling system, was developed in response to an enquiry from one of their key clients, who tried and tested it’s functionality, also identified an alternative application and significant benefits, for users of chemical suits, particularly in hostile heat environments. It was quickly established that the opportunity presented by this spin off product, was considerable and a new company has been formed to commercialise this first, of a range of anticipated products. All associated IP has been transferred to the new company and a sector experienced management team is being recruited to exploit a pipeline of opportunities that can be evidenced.

Market, performance and funding

The key markets & routes are well known and access/contact already well established in the sectors that are associated with the use of CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) protection suits and for staff working in high temperature areas. The product has shown not only durability but enables the user to maintain high performance levels for far longer periods in exacting environments.

The company has established strong relationships with a number of identified users and the largest supplier of CBRN suits are at advanced stages of negotiation to supply units within 3 months of manufacturing, leading to a sales profile of c2k units in year one rising to 12k in year 2, with sales into other sectors ramping up revenues to from £300k year one to £5m by year 3 and profits approaching £1.5m

A comprehensive business plan has been prepared indicating a funding requirement of £450k, of which £250k will be raised as equity immediately against a valuation of £1m. A regional VC is considering a match investment. The balance of £200k over the following 15 months may be debt or trade finance based.

The operation is scalable with controllable overheads in line with sales. The market for the product is sustainable and has all the attributes associated with long term potential that makes an exit via a trade sale to an existing supplier of industrial and military personal protective equipment a realistic probability.

Background Introduction:

Inventor & Owner Manager has worked in the expanding & continuing growth mobility sector for many years and in the last 8 for a leading mobility supplier managing UK wide sales. During this period he saw a market opportunity and need for a means to transport mobility scooters easily by car, particularly for a growing older client, without the need for vehicle modifications and without dismantling or lifting the mobility scooter.

Formed in 2007, and primarily personally funded he has designed and built the Litalift^TM range of mobility product carriers and has been highly successful in securing grants for what has been seen as very innovative concept and product that is patent-protected.

An experienced management team is being formed but key is the sales expertise and knowledge of the market the owner is bringing .

Product – description & stage of development

The Litalift^TM range of lifting and carrying systems fit onto a standard vehicle towball on the back of the owner’s car. Some of the unique features of Litalift^TM are:

1. A patent-pending towball hitch that ensures platform stability, ease of fitting and removal.
2. The customer no longer needs to dismantle or lift their mobility scooter into their car.
3. The Litalift^TM is an external carrier (not a trailer) – it doesn’t take up boot space
4. It folds up for compactness and ease of parking once the scooter is unloaded.

CE Mark and EU testing of the electronics will be completed by Mid July which with funding will lead into build of aluminium extrusion tooling to enable full product testing and CE mark for the product with manufacture to follow soon after having identified potential manufacturing sub-contractors.

Market

The market is well established and reach to an ever increasing audience will be through the 2.5k trade outlets, some of whom are multi-franchise with full UK coverage. Industry feedback from a multi outlet with 10 locations has indicated they would expect to grow sales to 15-20 per month based on current scooter sales.

Market Opportunity

the market audience for Litalift^TM is the fastest growing age segment in the UK with 2.3m blue badge holders alone and many more people now turning to Scooter mobility as a means of maintaining their lifestyle and independence. There is no comparable product to LitalkiftÔ in the market. The “grey” market had a spend profile of £257bn in 2007 and still represent the highest disposable income of any market segment.

Funding required

£150k is sought to enable launch and first manufacture to commence in the Autumn.

Projected financials and full business plan available that is targeting sales through the network of £4m by 2012 and trading profit c£750k.

Result: through Minerva the company located an experienced manager who became a director and invested a sum approaching £100,000.

Result: we introduced a private investor who joined the Board as Financial Director (part-time) and we then introduced a venture capital company. Together they invested over £800,000. Eighteen months later the company gained a listing on AIM, having increased in value by sixteen times (from £2.5m to £40m).

With the FSA clearly indicating a new “policing” regime will be implemented the company have a very definite market opportunity and competitor advantage that they now feel can be exploited through adoption of the product by key industry sector partners. In the last 2 months, the pace of adoption has accelerated with a number of significant breakthroughs, firstly following system approval, one of the top two consumer credit data holders have agreed exclusive access, followed by a major mortgage network sourcing provider with over 20k users, along with 4 other networks commencing product trials.

In addition to the audit/compliance solution the system offers a time saving, one stop, considerably cheaper option than is currently available. An advisor can access all the relevant data for £32 with a projected GP of 50% to the company. The financial projections in the business plan assume reasonable growth and usage by advisors at an average of only 15 enquiries per annum yielding c£240gp per user p.a. which puts into perspective the potential revenue one network of 20k users could generate.

The management and executive team are all from the industry sector with both excellent technical and proven business expertise at the highest level. The company have been funded by the management, private investors and a regional co-investment fund who have indicated they will be willing to match new investment. With revenue now possible by July/August the company are seeking to step up product development with deployment of additional staff and purchase of relevant data requiring £250k over 6 months against defined and measurable milestones. A valuation of £1.25m is anticipated. A full plan is available.

Projected Forecast

They saw a gap in the market emerging between “box shifters” & telecom service providers and those who could truly provide a full turn-key managed service solution that would meet a growing expectation from a wide range of business customer’s in price, variety and quality of services available. Core to the difference is the fully accredited partnership with Cisco they have established in record time, rewarding them with the “partnership nomination for the UK” to be announced in June 2009; for their innovative and unique approach, building one of only four demonstration suites outside of Cisco and the only facility between London & Manchester. As a result Cisco have granted them a specialism status for managed services in the Birmingham area, generating both Cisco and their own high value sales leads pushing them well ahead of sales projections with a growing qualified pipeline of which £2m+ is to be delivered by August 2009. Cisco referrals are largely all mid corporate size that ordinarily a young company like this would not be able to access however the Cisco partnership and marketing/sales support is proving lucrative and carries with it a full cross section of services so that average gross margin of 60%+ is seen as sustainable.

The executive management team will need additions with anticipated growth, but are ably led at present by an experienced woman entrepreneur who has good vision and drive for a future that is targeted at generating revenues of £4m by 2012, operating profit of £1.2m and a healthy recurring annual revenue stream with a good mix of services and strong mid corporate client base underpinning the business.

Equity funding of £200k is sought for which a regional fund is considering upto £100k at a proposed valuation of £1.2m with a trade sale exit a probable outcome within 3-5 years.

Projected Forecast

Result: three private investors input a total of £135,000.

The suite of managed services with its transactional payment proposition, enables an easy entry to M-Commerce by merchants whose product offer lends itself to this application and who are also seeking a market edge by using mobile as the ‘fourth screen’ after film, TV and PC. With over 3.5 billion phones worldwide and smartphone market growth expected at 53% pa Mobile media will continue to become a prime focus of commercial activity that the technology developed will be well positioned to exploit.

The product has been rigorously tested for over a year and in the latter half of 2008 the B2B proposition was launched as a ‘Managed Service’ to targeted partners who already provided transactional on-line services into key sectors, and were seen as primary route to market. Deals have now been secured with key market leaders who between them have over 40k merchant clients, with the first going live in March 2009 and more to follow over the next few months, all from Industry sectors with existing propositions relevant to mobile  – Travel, Ticketing, Retail and Gaming that have a combined online world wide market revenue value per annum of more than $1Trillion & growing (Forrester 2007)

Revenue is generated from the initial setup and build of the service, a monthly subscription and from recurring income through a fixed fee per transaction. For B2C, revenue is created from commissions paid by a supplier for each successful sale.At this stage the company feel they have a technical and market advantage over the competition that will remain sustainable for some time as they establish sales traction and market penetration much of this attributed to the strength of the management team who can demonstrate successful track records and performance in growing businesses to significant revenue and profit levels both UK and overseas.

The business has been funded to date by the Directors own funds, private investors and a regional co-investment fund and with revenues now expected to be generated by the end of this 2^nd Quarter the company seek £60k funding at a valuation of £1.34m taking them through to Q3 when on-going discussions with a major VC is targeted to inject equity investment of £1m to provide the funding needed to fully exploit the potential.

The forecasts below anticipate implementing an exit strategy in 2012.

Result: A Minerva business angel invested £100,000 together with his skills as Finance Director.