GenDrive Ltd has raised angel investment GenDrive Ltd, one of our incubatee companies, successfully raised angel financing in April. Since entering the incubator in 2008, TTP has supported GenDrive through a number of challenges, culminating in this successful fundraising event.  GenDrive Ltd has developed an innovative inverter for connecting renewable energy to the grid. This product, known as TOTUS, can be used with any energy generation device, making distributed generation economically viable and reducing payback time by up to 40%. Dr Damyn Musgrave and Dr Nigel Jakeman, GenDrive’s directors, developed TOTUS after identifying a gap in the market for inverters of this nature.  GenDrive was accepted into the incubator in January 2008, on the back of an exciting enabling technology, strong management team and clear market need. At the time of acceptance, however, GenDrive faced challenges including raising its public profile, completing technical milestones and of course fundraising. TTP, TTP Ventures and our partners were able to offer support to GenDrive in these challenges.  TTP assisted with market analysis, IP advice, engineering support and independent technical assessment. The outcome of this work both informed GenDrive’s business strategy and provided them with valuable independent reports for the fundraising due diligence process. TTP Ventures provided mentoring on business planning and fundraising, including introductions to business angels. GenDrive also engaged with one of the partners of the incubator programme, the law firm Mills & Reeve, to assist with the fundraising process. Finally, GenDrive’s public profile and reputation was enhanced by association with the Carbon Trust, which is important for those unfamiliar with GenDrive’s technology or market.  Dr Damyn Musgrave says “Starting a successful business is difficult in the current climate, but possible if you get the right support at the right time” back to the newsletter