Venture capital fund manager Mercia Fund Management (MFM) has participated in an equity raise of more than POUND900,000 for Ventive Ltd. MFM joined an angel funding round which was also supported by the Angel Co-fund.

Ventive, recently named as a regional winner in the prestigious Shell Springboard 2013 competition, develops products to reduce heating bills for residents, and improves internal air quality leading to health benefits. Building maintenance costs are also reduced for homeowners due to lower humidity.

The product operates on the simple principles of air buoyancy and also harnesses the wind. Warm stale air rises and pre-heats incoming sinking fresh air through a Ventive device.

The funding will accelerate the commercial roll out of Ventive's first patented ventilation products and continue to develop its award winning R&D programme for further market expansion.

Andrew Oldfield, Head of Cleantech at Mercia Fund Management said, "We have worked with the Ventive founders to help them create a focused and scalable operation and thus exploit a truly innovative technology. This funding round is an important milestone in the company's development and a strong validation of Ventive's technology and management."

Robert Morrison, Managing Director at Ventive said, "We are seeing overwhelming interest for our products from our initial target market of social housing. Our product reduces maintenance costs for the landlord and utility costs for the tenant. Ventive products have no moving parts, require no power or maintenance, and are easily installed in both retrofit and new builds. We are delighted with the support our investors have given at many levels."

Mark Payton, Managing Director of Mercia Fund Management said, "Ventive is the last investment from our inaugural Mercia Growth Fund 1, and an excellent example of scalable business offering rapid revenue growth against modest capital needs."

Mercia Fund Management has raised a follow on Mercia Growth Fund 2 to continue its support for innovative growth businesses across selected fields of Medtech Cleantech, and IT.

About Mercia Fund Management

Mercia Fund Management (MFM) is a venture capital fund manager with over POUND17 million under active management.

MFM provides investment growth capital for businesses ranging from early commercial traction through to those seeking expansion or working capital that are trading profitably. Furthermore, MFM can also provide cost-effective incubator accommodation at Forward House in Henley-in-Arden coupled with centralised support services in keeping with its model as a hands-on, supportive investor.

About the Angel CoFund

The Angel CoFund, created with funding from the Regional Growth Fund and the Business Bank, invests alongside syndicates of business angels in order to support high potential SMEs.

The fund is able to make initial equity investments of between POUND100,000 and POUND1 million in to companies alongside business angels subject to an upper limit of 49 per cent of any investment round. The angels must be independent of the investee company, be able to demonstrate appropriate due diligence has been carried out and be making commercial investments. Final investment decisions are made by the independent investment committee of the fund based on the detailed proposals put forward by business angel syndicates