Powerlase, the developer of industrial solid state laser systems, has attracted a £7m pan-European investment led by Deutsche Venture Capital and MTI Partners, supported by Alice Ventures of Milan, and with continuing commitment from existing Powerlase investors, including Cazenove Private Equity and FNI Venture Capital. Powerlase was advised by FirstCapital.

The Powerlase range of High Power Solid State Diode Pumped lasers offer advantages to many industrial sectors where high average power is needed for volume production. The technology can also deliver the laser beams via fiber optics, providing great flexibility to systems integrators. Market applications include display manufacturing; microelectronics; PCB production; aerospace, and the machine tool industry.

Powerlase lasers combine high average power and short nanosecond pulses, not previously available together, and feature energy conversion efficiencies up to double that of industry norms.

The funding will aid Powerlase's expansion of its manufacturing operations and finance further growth in laser development for industrial materials processing.

David Ward, Partner at MTI said: "Powerlase is a great example of the type of company that MTI gets excited about, as it combines state of the art technology with a major current and future corporate marketplace. The co-lead investors bring complementary skills to the company. Powerlase will benefit from both DVC's excellent knowledge of the industrial laser marketplace in Germany, and MTI's hands-on investment style, based on the international operating experience of the MTI team."

Cyril Bertrand, Partner at DVC Deutsche Venture Capital said: "With this round of financing, DVC is proud of contributing to the commercial expansion and partnership strategy of Powerlase. The company is now well equipped to provide its growing customer base with the highest standards of support, integration and maintainence services that such Tier-1 customers require. We at DVC are also delighted to work with such respected institutions as MTI Partners, Alice Ventures, FNI and Cazenove: with this consortium on board, the outstanding technology of Powerlase resides on a solid financial basis".

Terry Nowell, CEO of Powerlase, said: "The combination of key scientific technology, a strong investor base, and collaborative work with multinational partners places Powerlase at the forefront of industrial laser technology. We are particularly pleased to enjoy the continued support of existing investors, along with the new investors in a syndicate for this round".

Hazel Moore, Chairman of FirstCapital, said "Powerlase has a highly differentiated product and is making excellent inroads into several large, rapidly growing markets. The combination of skills and experience brought by the new investors, together with the strength of the existing investor base and management team, provides a solid base for rapid growth and expansion."

David Ward and Cyril Bertrand will join the Board of Powerlase.

About Powerlase

The company designs and manufactures its products at its facility in Crawley, West Sussex, UK. It was formed in 2000 as a spin off from Imperial College London.

The products are all solid-state and do not use any hazardous Chemicals or gases reducing industrial environmental impact. The standard product specifications are available on the website www.powerlase.com . Laser output powers range from 50W to over 1kW in 1064nm with optional 532nm versions.

Sales do not typically compete with other lasers, but are replacing industrial processes that are older, costly, slow, or environmentally unfriendly processes.

The wide variety of product applications include:

• 'Ablative lithography' - for direct write patterning of flat panel displays
• Copper cutting - cutting of composite copper/insulator sheets for flexible PCBs etc.
• 'Laser milling' - for machining of high strength metal alloys and industrial diamond laminates.

About MTI

MTI is one of the UK's leading providers of specialist venture capital to UK technology companies that are at an early stage in their development or recovery.

MTI's strength lies in its appreciation of hi-tech companies, coupled with the experience to provide quality business advice. All its executives are well-qualified technologists who have a passion for helping young companies, and their management teams, evolve and grow. They have enjoyed success in commercial business environments at the most senior levels of management before joining MTI.

MTI's overriding motivation for investment is a company's potential for commercial success, determined by the quality of its technology, potential market, and the calibre of its management.

MTI has been supporting UK early stage technology since 1983, and is currently actively investing from its fourth, 105m, fund. It typically provides between 1 million and 5 million, with return on investment sought principally in the form of capital gain over a 3 to 7 year period.

Recent example investments made by MTI include Sarantel, Eleksen and ApaTech, and recent major realisations include Advanced Composites Group.

About DVC Deutsche Venture Capital

DVC Deutsche Venture Capital, a leading venture capital firm based in Munich, focuses primarily on European growth companies in the areas of information, telecommunication, semiconductor and industrial technologies as well as life sciences. In the field of life sciences DVC invests in the development of therapeutic and diagnostic products as well as in platform and medical technologies. DVC's total administrated fund volume amounts to 300 million Euro. For investments in private companies, DVC invests approximately 1 - 10 million Euro as lead investor or, in the case of larger financing rounds, as co-lead investor. DVC is a "value-added" financial investor. Each sector team consists of experienced investment managers with relevant backgrounds. Since its formation in 1998, DVC has invested in approximately 70 companies.

About Alice Lab

Alice Lab is a seed and very early stage venture capital firm investing in high-potential companies in the areas of communications, semiconductors, software and internet infrastructures and medical devices. With offices in Milan and Tel-Aviv, Alice Lab comprises a multinational team of highly professional and motivated partners and investment managers, backed by an extensive network of relationships. Alice Lab helps in selecting, monitoring and supporting its portfolio companies in dynamic high growth domains throughout Europe and Israel.

About FNI Venture Capital

FNI Venture Capital is the UK venture capital investment arm of Renate Nixdorf Verwaltungsgesellschaft GmbH, a company based in Paderborn, Germany. FNI, established in 2000, invests in UK technology companies, and specialises in high-tech businesses in computer software, telecommunications, electronics and material science encompassing innovative core technologies.

About FirstCapital

FirstCapital is a corporate finance advisory firm based in London specializing in providing venture capital fund raising and mergers and acquisitions advice to high growth technology companies.

We have extensive relationships throughout Europe and the US. Our team is experienced in executing a wide variety of deals from start-ups to multinationals and in both UK and international cross border transactions. We provide pro-active, informed full service deal management, including assistance with strategy and planning, finding and approaching investors or M&A targets, valuations, and hands on transaction execution.

We work in partnership with our clients to achieve their goals, offering impartial advice and support based on our knowledge of the market and on each client's individual requirements, and sharing alongside them in the risks and the rewards of success.

For further information please contact: Amer Vohora, FirstCapital on 020 8563 1563 or amer@firstcapital.co.uk