EverEdgeIP raises millions to fuel further expansion

New Zealand intellectual property company EverEdgeIP raises millions to fuel further international expansion

Auckland headquartered EverEdgeIP, a top intellectual property strategy and transaction firm, has completed a second capital raise, bringing on major new investors, including Sir Ralph Norris.

This round raised an undisclosed amount in the millions, valuing the company in the “low eight figures”, and represents a substantial increase on the company’s first capital raise 20 months ago. Funds will be used to continue the company’s expansion abroad.

EverEdgeIP, helmed by CEO Paul Adams - ranked as one of the top IP strategists in the world by Intellectual Asset Management magazine - is an intellectual property strategy and transaction specialist that helps businesses identify and leverage intellectual property assets and manage intellectual property risks.

“This capital raise significantly exceeded our expectations in terms of demand, quality of investor and geographic scope.

“The round was well over-subscribed by highly experienced investors from the finance, intellectual property and technology sectors, key focus areas for us. Over a third of this round is international funding, something we specifically targeted to deepen our capital networks. It’s a huge vote of confidence in the team, the success to date and our vision to build a globally significant player,” says Adams.

New investors include Sir Ralph Norris former CEO of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, John Barnett Chairman of South Pacific Pictures, Simon Poidevin Managing Director, Corporate Broking at Bell Potter Securities, Australia’s leading stock broking firm, Alliance Equities, an early stage venture capital firm and Punakaiki Fund an early stage venture capital firm and the largest single investor in the round.

They join existing investors Sir David Levene and Bruce Sheppard (ex-Chairman of the Shareholder’s Association and previous FMA Board Member) who reinvested in this round. Lance Wiggs, Director of Punakaiki Fund, will join the Board along with Dr Chris Donegan, Managing Director of EverEdgeIP’s UK office and also a Partner at Azure Wealth LLP, a specialist wealth manager based in London, Geneva and Zurich, managing $1bn.

EverEdgeIP has doubled in size in the last year, with offices in the United States and United Kingdom, and a further office is planned for later this year.

“Opening offices in the US and UK has been a game changer for us. We are now the largest company of our type in the world and the only multi-national player. Overseas we are being called on by Fortune 100 and 500 clients who recognise the depth of experience we can deliver across all intellectual property platforms: trademarks, content, trade secrets, plant variety rights, software, data and patents. In December 2014 we were invited to speak at Sanford Bernstein’s Technology Innovation Summit in Boston on the impact of intellectual property on mainstream investing. We presented alongside companies such as IBM, Cisco and Xerox – it was a major event” says Adams.

In the last six months the company has completed international engagements with multi-billion dollar clients in industries including media, industrial products, software and defence. The firm already works with many of the world’s and New Zealand’s leading companies. Previous engagements include The Coca Cola Company [NYSE:KO], Covidien [NYSE:COV], Danone [EURONEXT:BN], Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Z Energy, BNZ, Orion Healthcare and the New Zealand Defence Technology Agency.

“Globally, intellectual property - brand, content, data, know how, innovation - is rapidly becoming the single most important asset a company owns. The industry is evolving and expanding incredibly fast and we are ideally placed to lead it as intellectual property goes mainstream. It’s an exciting time.”

ENDS

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