NEWS
Aubren client company Novaerus raises $15million in new funding
Sunday Times, 14th February 2016
McCabe’s clean air fund wins funding.
NOVAERUS, a clean air technology company backed by the Irish entrepreneur Bill McCabe, has raised $15m (€13.3m) in a new fundraising, writes Samantha McCaughren.
The company, which uses technology to sterilise air for the health care sector, raised 60% of the funding from the state-backed China Ireland Technology Growth Capital Fund, which launched in 2014. Other participants in the fundraising were existing investors Polaris Partners and the American venture capital firm Beacon Bioventures, a subsidiary of Fidelity Biosciences.
The music impresario Denis Desmond was an early investor in Novaerus through his vehicle Gaiety Investments. The company raised $10m in 2014 to develop its sales and marketing efforts, and was reportedly valued at $40m last year.
Newly filed accounts for the company show that shareholder funds stood at $4.7m at the end of 2014. McCabe’s Oyster Capital fund remains a significant shareholder in the company, which is actively marketing in the US and international markets.
The $100m China Ireland Technology Growth Capital Fund is backed by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, formerly the National Pensions Reserve Fund and the Chinese Investment Corporation. The fund has also backed FieldAware, another Oyster investee, which uses technology to link companies with their sales reps on the road.
Novaerus was previously headed by Kevin Maughan, a former investment banker who has since co-founded UrbanVolt, a company that plans to invest €30m in rolling out energy-efficient lighting for small businesses.
