EMV Capital co-leads £12m investment round into Cambridge-based Martlet Capital with - Business Leader News

EMV Capital co-leads £12m investment round into Cambridge-based Martlet Capital with

EMV Capital (EMVC) has announced its investment into Cambridge-based proposed Deeptech early-stage investor Martlet Capital, alongside private office Saranac Partners and other investors.

The investment enables Martlet Capital to complete the acquisition of a portfolio of 50+ minority positions from Marshall Group, including companies in life science, healthcare, cleantech, sustainability, industrial and semi-conductor technology. The total targeted investment for Martlet is at £22m, providing Martlet Capital with significant firepower for further follow on and new investment opportunities.

EMV Capital is making a £1m investment into Martlet Capital, and through its ‘capital light’ approach intends to syndicate a part of its initial investment in Martlet to other investors, in line with its “capital light” approach.

The deal also includes the proposed creation of follow-on funding vehicle ‘MarQuity’, which will be 40% co-owned by EMV Capital, alongside Saranac Partners and Martlet to provide scale up capital for targeted companies from the portfolio. EMV Capital intends to make a seed investment of £100,000 in MarQuity and plans to provide a line of credit of up to £1million to MarQuity, to provide substance and effective response to market opportunities.

The investments are backed by EMV Capital’s parent company AIM-listed NetScientific PLC.  NetScientific CEO and EMV Capital MD, Dr.Ilian Iliev played a lead role in the deal structuring and will join the boards of Martlet Capital and MarQuity as Non Executive Director.

He said of the deal: “This investment represents a significant step forward in EMV Capital’s growth path, through an expanded footprint, a new high-quality deal flow channel, increased Capital Under Advisory, and developing further opportunities to deploy our capital-light investment model. We are excited to work with Martlet Capital and Saranac Partners in building a unique proposition in the world-leading Cambridge cluster. The combination of Martlet’s early-stage investment focus and existing networks; EMV Capital and Saranac Partners’ follow-on investment support through MarQuity; and access to international growth opportunities provides a unique platform to nurture the next set of champions emerging from Cambridge.”