NEW YORK, NY, Investor Growth Capital (IGC), formerly a business unit within Investor AB, is now an independent venture capital firm with a portfolio of more than 100 companies globally and offices in New York, Menlo Park, Beijing, and Stockholm.

Investor AB, which remains the sole limited partner, has contributed an additional $300 million of fresh capital and a portfolio with a current market value in excess of $1.3 billion to IGC's sixth fund. IGC Fund VI has a unique "evergreen" structure that allows IGC to share proceeds generated from realizations with Investor AB, thereby providing an ongoing source of capital to fund future investments. IGC will continue its fifteen-year history of investing in expansion-stage technology and healthcare companies with a focus on new investment opportunities in the United States and Greater China.

Steve Campe, President of IGC, noted: "Since inception, our association with Investor AB has provided us with the unique combination of a deep and flexible capital base along with a position inside an international network of Global 2000 companies. This has been an important source of differentiation for us as a financial partner to our portfolio companies, and it is a priority to maintain that relationship while transitioning to a structure that can support our continued growth. We are flattered by the vote of confidence from Investor AB and look forward to continuing to work closely with them to build value."

"For nearly one hundred years Investor AB has been dedicated to building great businesses, and over the past decade we've seen Investor Growth Capital grow into one," said Borje Ekholm, CEO of Investor AB. "We see a compelling opportunity in the global market of expansion stage companies. The IGC team has demonstrated a highly competitive track record and we believe that this new, more independent structure will enable their continued growth and performance."

Over the past 5 years, IGC has realized in excess of $1 billion in proceeds from divestitures of portfolio companies, including notable exits such as the sale of Kyphon to Medtronic for $4.2 billion, the merger of Swedish Orphan with BioVitrum for $500 million, and the recently announced sale of BlueArc to Hitachi Data Systems for nearly $600 million. In the last 60 days alone, IGC has completed a series of highly successful exits and IPOs in addition to BlueArc including the acquisitions of Inquira (Oracle), Carmel Pharma (Becton Dickinson), Mpex Pharmaceuticals (Aptalis), Dotomi (ValueClick), and the IPO of Tangoe (NASDAQ:TNGO). Since the beginning of 2011, IGC has invested over $100 million in promising new portfolio companies, including Antenna Software, WhiteHat Security, Aptalis Pharma and Transcend Medical in the U.S., as well as Baihe Holding and Xinghe Limited in China.

"Our flexible capital structure gives IGC a unique ability to align with each management team's financing needs and growth trajectory while our international footprint allows us to support geographic expansion through our local market networks and insight. A key to our long-standing success, these strategies have recently resulted in liquidity events for companies on three continents, generating returns from investments dating back to 1997," said Steve Campe. "We look forward to partnering with more great management teams and helping them achieve the full, long-term potential of their companies."

About Investor Growth Capital

Investor Growth Capital is a global venture capital firm backed by Investor AB, with offices in New York, Menlo Park, Beijing, and Stockholm. Since its formation in the mid-1990's, IGC has focused on partnering with exceptional, expansion-stage companies in the technology and healthcare industries. Today, IGC manages an evergreen fund with more than 100 portfolio companies worldwide and assets exceeding $1.5 billion. More at www.investorgrowthcapital.com

About Investor AB

Investor AB, founded in 1916, is the largest industrial holding company in Northern Europe with over $20 billion in assets, and a leading shareholder in a number of Global 1000 corporations, including AstraZeneca, Ericsson, Atlas Copco, and ABB. For almost a century Investor AB's business philosophy has been to build best-in-class companies in sectors in which the group has strong knowledge and a networking advantage. More at www.investorab.com