Cambridge entrepreneurs Mike Lynch, Sir Michael Marshall, Jonathan MIlner (pictured) and Hermann Hauser feature in the 20 richest people in East Anglia, which forms part of the 2015 Sunday Times Rich List.

They are among the 1,000 richest people in Britain who will be unveiled by the newspaper this Sunday (April 26).
Lynch, founder of Autonomy is the richest of the Cambridge contingent in 7th place in East Anglia. His worth is given as £470 million – down £15m on 2014, which drops him down from 6th place. That makes him 235th in the top 1,000.

Sir Michael Marshall and family are the major Cambridge gainers with their worth up £67m to £200m. That hoists them up to 12th richest in East Anglia from 20th position last time and 476th equal in the UK.

Abcam founder and former CEO and serial life science entrepreneur Jonathan Milner also goes up to 14th equal from 21st place last year with his worth given as £165m – up £47m year-on-year. It puts him 595th richest in Britain.

Serial technology entrepreneur and VC Hermann Hauser, founder of the iconic Cambridge empire Acorn, is down to 17th equal from 15th equal last year with worth of £150m, the same figure given last year. It puts him equal 637th in Britain.

Lord Archer’s wealth is unchanged at £140m which drops him from 18th equal in East Anglia to 20th and 688th equal in Britain.

Kirsten Rausing is the richest person in East Anglia, according to the Rich List, to be published this Sunday, April 26.

Rausing’s wealth derives from Tetra Laval, the Swiss packaging group, which enjoyed a rise in sales in 2013 to £9.2bn. Rausing, 62, is a leading shareholder in the business, which is best known for its milk and juice cartons. 

Her father was Gad Rausing, who with his brother Hans inherited Tetra Pak, which became Tetra Laval. Rausing also owns two Suffolk stud farms and the Staffordstown Stud in Ireland. Her £8.7bn fortune is shared with her brother Jorn who is based in London.

A commercial property portfolio worth more than £560m means the former owner of Foxtons, Jon Hunt, has not lost his touch. Colchester-born Hunt founded the estate agency in 1981 and sold it 26 years later for £375m, investing heavily in commercial property with the proceeds. His other assets include a car collection and Heveningham Hall, his Suffolk estate.

The Earl of Iveagh is a descendant of Arthur Guinness, who invented the famous black stout in 1759. He chairs the company that runs the Guinness family's financial affairs.

The family stake in Diageo, the drinks giant which now owns Guinness, is worth £200m. He also owns the Elveden estate in Suffolk as well as 2,400 acres in Canada.

Other big gainers in the region include Douw Steyn, up £100m in our new valuation of his wealth to stand at £700m. His Steyn City commercial and residential development has just opened north of Johannesburg.

The £350m project is the brainchild of Steyn and aims to provide a dream lifestyle for its residents. Steyn runs Peterborough-based BGL, which owns comparethemarket.com.

Ewan Kirk, a former Goldman Sachs partner who launched the Cambridge-based Cantab Capital Partners hedge fund in 2007, has seen his wealth rise 50 per cent in a year, up from £140m in 2014 to £210m. The fund now has about $5bn of assets under management.

The biggest faller in the region is Richard Higham who runs Norwich-based offshore oil services group Acteon. Falling oil prices have seen his fortune drop by £120m to £150m.
 

Kier, the Cambridge and Sandy-based property business, is raising £340 million chiefly to acquire UK infrastructure services group Mouchel.

The purchase price will be £265m cash and Kier will also wipe out Mouchel’s net debt. The £340m is being raised from a rights issue which Kier says is fully underwritten.

Mouchel provides advisory, design, project delivery and managed services to the highways and transportation, local government, property, emergency services, health, education and utilities markets in the UK, the Middle East and Australia.

It is the leading provider of repair and maintenance services to the UK strategic road network. The combination of Kier and Mouchel brings together Mouchel's leading position in strategic highways services with Kier's presence in the local authority roads market and creates a sector leader in the growing UK highways maintenance and management market, according to Kier CEO Haydn Mursell (pictured above).

He said: “Over the last three years, Mouchel has been transformed into a strong business with market leading positions. The combination of Kier and Mouchel, particularly in the provision of UK highways maintenance services, creates a leader in a growing marketplace.

“The acquisition is consistent with and accelerates the delivery of our Vision 2020 strategy and will provide compelling value to shareholders.”

The deal positions Kier to benefit from the new Road Investment Strategy (RIS') which sets out a long-term investment plan of £17 billion of total expenditure on the maintenance, renewal and enhancement of the strategic road network from 2015 to 2020, with annual expenditure increasing from £2.9bn to £4.1bn over the same period.

Mouchel reported group revenue (including share of JVs) of £616.6m and underlying operating profit of £27.7m for the year to September 30, 2014. Revenues for the three months ended December 31 increased by 38 per cent year-on year.

The acquisition is anticipated to deliver pre-tax cost synergies of around £10m in the financial year ending June 30, 2017, with integration costs of the deal estimated at £17m.

The purchase is expected to be materially earnings enhancing for Kier for the financial year ending June 30, 2016 and to deliver a return on capital expenditure of at least 15 per cent in the following year.

The deal creates an enlarged group with a pro forma combined order book of £9.3 billion as at March 31, 2015, comprising Kier's order book of £6.5bn and Mouchel's of £2.8bn.
 

It’s not often in the Cambridge UK technology cluster that a property or infrastructure deal overshadows hi-tech or life science transactions but Kier Group has come up trumps in a busy April.

The property group’s $521 million rights issue to fund the acquisition of infrastructure specialist Mouchel was the top deal in value in the Cambridge UK business and technology cluster in another busy month.

It bumped up the April deals value locally to $1.554 billion. More significantly it took the 25-month total to $65.65bn in Business Weekly’s Cambridge Deals Digest – a monthly average of $2.62bn.

Several other major transactions are said to be in the pipeline that will nudge Cambridge to the £70bn landmark in the near future.

The Kier funding pays for Mouchel in cash and will wipe out the acquired company’s net debt. Mouchel provides advisory, design, project delivery and managed services to the highways and transportation, local government, property, emergency services, health, education and utilities markets in the UK, the Middle East and Australia. It is the leading provider of repair and maintenance services to the UK strategic road network.

Also in the world of property, Savills paid £40m ($61.3m) to acquire Smiths Gore to expand its rural business capabilities. Founded in 1847, Smiths Gore has operated as a partnership with 532 staff, across 31 UK offices and 14 estate offices, all of whom will transfer into Savills Rural Energy and Projects division or its Country Residential Agency business. Smiths Gore specialises in the management of rural property for private clients, institutions and the public sector. This complements Savills UK’s existing rural business which is mainly focused on private client and charitable sectors together with transactional advice.

Transatlantic deal of the month was undoubtedly GW Pharmaceuticals’ $179.2m raising of new cash on the US technology market, Nasdaq. The Cambridge company has built a portfolio of cannabis-based solutions to a range of diseases, including several forms of epilepsy, and is making great strides in the US.

Also with North America in mind, Sepura– the digital communications specialist – agreed to buy Spanish voice and datacoms company Teltronic for €127.5m ($144m).

The deal provides the business with a ready-made route into Latin America and the United States via Teltronic’s existing footprint and extends Sepura’s range of digital communications capabilities.

A month noted for its showers, April dripped a huge volume of smaller-value deals which nevertheless stacked up across a range of business sectors. Crowdfunding specialist SyndicateRoom launched its own massively oversubscribed fundraising on its site seeking £1.2m and – because of demand – was forced to put a £5k ceiling on individual investments in the round.

Cambridge product design innovator 42 Technology received a share of £2.2m to continue developing a novel concept for a new generation of passenger rolling stock for use on the UK rail network. The funding has been made available through ‘Tomorrow’s Train Design Today’ (TTDT), an international competition led by RSSB’s FutureRailway programme team in association with the Department for Transport. The consultancy’s winning concept is based on a flexible purpose carriage that can be quickly reconfigured to carry passengers or freight as required. When passenger occupancy levels are low, for example at off-peak times or when commuter trains have delivered their passengers and are returning to the suburbs, the seats can be automatically moved and stowed to allow room for freight. This novel approach will help ease road congestion by encouraging more freight onto the railways, while delivering additional revenues to the UK rail network in excess of £100m through more intensive use of rolling stock and without any significant increase in operating cost.

Cambridge debugging technology gamechanger Undo Software raised $2 million of growth capital through a new business model that hitches long-term funding to angel capital. Cambridge Innovation Capital, which backed the round, is urging early stage tech companies  in the cluster to adopt the model to help them through their critical early years. This is the first time CIC has invested alongside Cambridge angels and senior investment director Victor Christou said the model would help to address the funding gap experienced by many early stage, potentially high growth companies.

Undo co-founder and CEO Greg Law said the company plans to use the investment to accelerate its expansion and “become a major global player.” Winner of the Disruptive technology category in the recent Business Weekly Awards, Undo produces debugging tools that could save the industry $81.1bn a year by ‘turning back time’ to find the origins of software problems. The $2m funding round also includes investment from high profile entrepreneurs Jaan Tallinn (co-founder of Skype) and Sir Peter Michael (founder of Classic FM).

Cambridge chip maker ARM Holdings ramped up its capabilities in the Internet of Things arena with a double acquisition in the US. It bought Wicentric in San Diego and Florida-based startup Sunrise Micro Devices (SMD) for undisclosed sums. Wicentric is a Bluetooth Smart stack and profile provider. Privately held, the California company’s software solutions focus on enabling the development of low-power wireless products. It says its technology suite enables creation of interoperable smart products and the link layer for silicon integration. SMD provides  sub-one volt Bluetooth radio intellectual property.

Again privately held, SMD provides radio IP solutions including a pre-qualified, self-contained radio block and related firmware to simplify radio deployment. Central to all SMD radios is native sub-one volt operation. Operating below one volt enables the radio to run much longer on batteries or harvested energy. The IP of both companies will be integrated to form the ARM Cordio portfolio. This complement ARM’s existing processor and physical IP targeting end markets requiring low-power wireless communications such as the IoT. ARM says the Cordio portfolio is already available for licensing.

Cambridge-based Spectral Edge, a University of East Anglia spin-out, is seeking £100k crowdfunding cash on Kickstarter to commercialise a new smart HDMI adapter for colour blind TV viewers and gaming enthusiasts. The new adapter, branded Eye2TV, is said to enhance video content for the estimated four per cent of the world’s population that suffers from colour-blindness – making it easy to distinguish between red and green features and enabling on-screen objects to be easily distinguished. Serial entrepreneur Dr Robert Swann is chairman.

Healx, the Cambridge University startup helping to match potential cures to some of the world’s rarest diseases, closed a £300k seed round and lined up Science & Technology big-hitters to help steer the next phase of growth. Lead investors are serial life sciences entrepreneur and Cambridge angel Jonathan Milner – founder of Abcam – and San Francisco telecoms innovator Ronjon Nag, who co-founded and sold companies to BlackBerry and Motorola. The venture is equally funded by financial strategist David Fuller, biotech investor Ian Mackenzie and software manager Laurent Brisedoux.

Horizon Discovery CEO and serial entrepreneur Darrin Disley will become an independent non-executive director. Until Healx has a formal board he will act as an adviser to the young business. The highly respected biotech entrepreneur and drug development guru David Brown has agreed to become chairman.

Cambridge-based Congenica, a spin-out from The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, raised a further £2.2m with the completion of a Series A round of financing by Amadeus Capital Partners’ early stage funds and the company’s initial investor, Cambridge Innovation Capital. Congenica was launched in 2014 by six world-leading geneticists and bio-informaticians. It has developed a proprietary platform to screen whole genome sequence data to identify novel genetic mutations and to highlight those associated with inherited or acquired genetic disorders.

Food packaging firm Anson Packaging was sold to Danish company Faerch Plast. No sum was disclosed. Anson has been owned by the Dujardin family for 40 years. It is the UK’s leading independent manufacturer of high-quality rigid packaging solutions to the food industry. Faerch Plast specialises in optimised packaging solutions for ready meals, fresh meat and cold food and snacks. The corporate team at Cambridge-based international law firm Mills & Reeve, led by Anthony McGurk, acted for the shareholders of Avro Holdings, Anson’s parent company, on the sale.

Law firm Birketts and accountancy practice BDO advised the owners of Alstons (Upholstery) on the company's proposed sale to Thailand Carpet Manufacturing, which is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Alstons Upholstery is a fifth-generation family business based in Colchester and one of the largest family-owned manufacturers in the UK, supplying sofas to independent stores and well known multi-site upholstery retailers. Under the new owners the business will continue to operate from Colchester using the Alstons Upholstery name, with plans for new investment and expansion under the ongoing management team. 
 

Cambridge mobile payment specialist Bango has been handed the chance of a potentially huge payback from US technology giant Microsoft.

The UK company’s CEO, Ray Anderson (pictured), says Bango would look to cash in on what he calls a quiet announcement by Microsoft that it will support carrier billing across all Windows 10 devices – not just those connected through a carrier network.

Microsoft – already a Bango partner – expects to have one billion devices running Windows 10 in three years’ time, unifying the entire device range, including PCs, tablets, smartphones and Xbox, says Anderson.

Bango can push to have its carrier billing technology built into that raft of devices so Anderson’s smart detective work could earn Bango a huge, long-term payback.

He said: “During last week’s Build 2015 keynote address, Microsoft quietly announced that it will support carrier billing across all Windows 10 devices, not just those connected through a carrier network.

“Developer conference announcements are often strictly for the fan boys, and this one might have passed us by, but the announcement from our partner Microsoft, is huge.

“Microsoft expects to have one billion devices running Windows 10 in three years’ time, unifying the entire device range, including PCs, tablets, smartphones and Xbox. This makes for a compelling platform for developers: much larger than any previous Windows, iOS and Android proposition alone.

“Microsoft’s Windows Store promise a huge range of software, games, apps and other content, including those written for .Net, Win32 and crucially, iOS and Android. The store also includes subscription payments for the first time.

“I was delighted to see Microsoft introduce carrier billing as standard across all of these devices, even those without mobile network capabilities, like the PC or Xbox.

“Microsoft has stated that carrier billing increases total payments by 8x per month in emerging markets and 3x in developed markets. This presents mobile operators with a massive revenue opportunity.

“The global carrier billing market has been growing year on year, largely based on sales of app content on smartphones. With this single move, Microsoft will supercharge the global carrier billing market.

“Google Play has been the biggest market opportunity to date. Now Microsoft’s bold commitment to carrier billing for all Windows 10 devices will further excite the world’s mobile network operators and supercharge the global carrier billing market.”

The Cambridge company’s track record shows that the giants of mobile choose the Bango payment platform to provide immediate payment that maximizes sales of digital content. More than 140 markets are activated by Bango partners.

Anderson said: “As the next billion consumers pick up their first smartphone, Bango technology will be there to unlock the universe of apps, video, games and other content that bring those smartphones to life.”

Global leaders plugging into Bango include Amazon, BlackBerry, Facebook, Google, Samsung, Microsoft and Mozilla.
 

A young Cambridge dotcom that has created digital diary technology to take the hassle out of keeping appointments has expanded into the Far East and South America and says it is rolling into new territories every week.

10to8 says it offers security in handling private and business engagements that neither the public nor company executives would trust to Facebook. The co-founders of 10to8 are Tom Playford and Matthew Cleevely, who is also CEO. Their fathers – Nigel and David, respectively – battled to change the landscape of telecoms in the Cambridge cluster and the UK.

Friends since primary school days, Tom and Matthew founded 10to8 with a noble ambition – “to rid the world of wasted time.”

Tom Playford said: “We envisioned a world where no one missed their commitments; no forgotten medical appointments, no late meetings, no last-minute cancellations or disappointing no-shows. We developed software that means much less effort to organise your time.”

10to8 creates bespoke appointment booking systems for small businesses such as accountants, health therapists, beauticians, music tutors and the like. The system is available as a web-based service and as an iPhone app and is free up to a limited number of active appointments; clients include the University of Cambridge and Neal’s Yard Remedies.

10to8 has just released two new APIs (application-programming interfaces), which mean that developers can now integrate the booking system into business websites. The booking process is seamlessly integrated with their own business process; customers won’t be taken off site to 10to8.com to make a booking.

Playford said: “We’ve had lots of requests from customers who want to tweak something about the way 10to8 takes their bookings and that’s understandable – every business is different.

“We’ve helped them as much as we can, but with the new Booking API, digital savvy business can design their own booking application whilst still allowing 10to8 to do all the heavy lifting  – finding free slots, managing working hours, sending SMSs, calendar syncing, mobile views etc.

“The other API we’re launching is a bit of an experiment. It’s a really simple REST API which allows you to book 10to8 appointments with only the email address of the customer.”

10to8 is currently angel and customer funded. A few Cambridge investors have backed the enterprise but with Cambridge and London offices, the investor profile is UK-wide and the client portfolio international. Playford said: “We’re growing but we want to grow faster and that’s our main focus at the moment.

“Longer term, we see ourselves as the trusted broker between businesses and their customers. Entering and updating the same tedious details every time you book a new appointment will be a thing of the past.

“We see ourselves as an ally customers can trust to guard their privacy and someone businesses can trust to look after parts of their customer communication. I don’t think I would trust Facebook with that.

“We’re seeing strong international demand with the Far East and South America providing the greatest growth at the moment. We’re rolling out to new countries weekly.

“It’s all about keeping  the cost of customer communication low and predictable in new territories. 10to8 is free and we want to keep it that way for 95 per cent of the customers in all the countries we launch in.”

Playford says there is the potential to greatly expand the technology proposition but 10to8 is intent on understanding – sometimes anticipating – and then meeting customer requirements. He said: “In terms of what we can do with the technology in future, we have a list as long as our office – in fact longer – we measured it. But it’s all about making sure we can develop things that our customers will actually use and in a way that will scale.

“Integrations with as many systems and APIs as possible is probably highest on our list of priorities. We want to make it easy for our customers to get the information they need in and out of 10to8.”

The company already has a headcount of 12 but says it is growing fast. Whether it sets up overseas offices is an issue for another time. “We’ll see where demand takes us but Cambridge and London suits us very well at the moment,” Playford said.

10to8 not only reflects the time of day that the founders had their lightbulb moment but also, as Playford explains, “Most of our customers used to take 10 minutes booking an appointment – we got it down to 8 seconds.”

The new generation Playford and Cleevely entrepreneurs have known each other for some time. Playford says: “We first met at primary school and I was the best man at his wedding on Saturday! We get on very well and it’s great to be able to work together on something so exciting.”

Two new investors – Cambridge Innovation Capital and Scottish Equity Partners – have contributed to an $8 million funding round for Abcodia that will underpin the launch on both sides of the Atlantic of a new test for the earlier detection of ovarian cancer.

London and Cambridge UK based Abcodia will also use some of the cash to open a US facility to provide a platform for the ROCA test. 

Abcodia CEO Dr Julie Barnes (pictured) says ROCA is the world’s most sensitive and specific ovarian cancer screening test.

The financing was co-led by Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) and Scottish Equity Partners (SEP), who join existing investors Albion Ventures and UCL Business. Dr Robert Tansley, from CIC and Jan Rutherford, from SEP have been appointed to Abcodia’s board.

Dr Barnes said: “The funding will allow Abcodia to launch the ROCA test in the UK this summer and US markets later in 2015. 

“This is the first cancer screening test that we are bringing to market and we are excited about its proven high performance. We feel passionately that the ROCA test will make a real difference in the lives of women at risk of developing this aggressive form of cancer. 

“The funding will help build operations and commercial teams in the UK and establish our US presence while continuing to grow our product pipeline focused on improving early cancer diagnosis.”

Dr Robert Tansley, investment director at CIC, added: “The major unmet need in early detection of ovarian cancer and the unprecedented clinical validation behind the ROCA test provided a compelling body of evidence for CIC’s investment. 

“We are excited to support this groundbreaking test and bring it to the market so women around the world can feel empowered with more knowledge and more options.”

ROCA’s proven performance was reaffirmed in a study from a major UK trial trial at UCL, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology  this month. The publication showed the ROCA test could detect ovarian cancer more accurately than existing methods and before symptoms occur.

Jan Rutherford, partner at SEP, said: “Abcodia is one of the most exciting businesses involved in the early detection of cancer. Its novel data driven approach, underpinned by its unique biobank and its strategic partnership with Cancer Research UK, has the potential to materially enhance the way biomarkers are developed, allowing earlier disease diagnosis and improved patient outcomes. 

‘We look forward to the launch of the ROCA test, initially through a number of private clinics in the UK this summer.”

A German electrical energy technology giant has acquired all the assets and IP of stricken Cambridge power electronics business Amantys for an undisclosed sum.

Amantys went bust in early March but the core technology and global market potential for it has been salvaged by Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen  (MR).

MR has installed a transition manager in Cambridge, who is working together with former members of the Amantys team. MR plans to set-up a new legal entity in the UK as a wholly foreign owned company. The German company says the acquisition of the product line and IP of “one the most innovative players within the power electronics market” forms a perfect fit into the long term technology strategy of the Reinhausen Group.

A spokesperson said: “Our priority is to reestablish the operating business of Amantys to continue to supply premium gate driver products to customers. The team will also progress the technology development in the field of IGBT drivers.” 

MR and its 30 subsidiaries around the world enjoys success in the global niche markets of electrical energy technology. The company, founded in 1868, is mainly family-owned and is now managed by the fifth generation of the family. 

In the 2014 fiscal year, around 3,000 employees produced a turnover of 650 million Euros. Fifty per cent of the electrical power consumed around the world is regulated by MR products. 

Besides transformer control technology, MR is also active in the field of power quality solutions and high voltage test facilities. Its core business is the regulation of power transformers.

MR is the leading company of the strong Reinhausen Group. The executive board, centre of global marketing & sales, R & D and large parts of production are located in Regensburg. Globally it is represented by a service network of over 20 subsidiaries on all continents, with production sites in Germany, Sweden, China and the United States.

Business Weekly revealed the facts about Amantys’ demise in early March when it ran out of cash despite having raised around $20 million of investment in under five years. Up to 40 staff were reported to have lost their jobs.

Amantys closed down completely and started selling off equipment. The decision to cease trading followed an abortive trawl for new money from existing and fresh investors over a period of months.

An inside source told Business Weekly that market adoption of the technology had proved too slow to save the business, which specialised in the delivery of scalable, cost effective solutions to meet the challenges of designing reliable and efficient power conversion in medium and high voltage applications. One customer took five years to hit volume production with the technology.

The company was formed in 2010 on the back of groundbreaking academic research and Cambridge business acumen by a team of former ARM executives.

Amantys was developing commercial products for a broad range of medium and high voltage applications across all sectors of the energy industry. The Amantys team spotted the opportunity to leverage fundamental research into a fresh approach to power switching electronics to address a growing market need.

Amantys built on the skills and expertise of its ARM and Cambridge University heritage and had highly rated product but the source said the company failed to go about raising new capital in the right way. The IP lived on and clearly remained attractive in the global marketplace – hence MR’s decision to move in and hoover up the assets.

Amantys opened a Shanghai office in 2013 but changes at CEO level were clearly a sign of problems. Erwin Wolf replaced Karen Oddey in October 2013; she had taken on the role in January the same year from Bryn Parry.

• PHOTOGRAPH: Dr. Uwe Kaltenborn (Head of Corporate Technology of the Reinhausen Group) with Mark Snook (right, Head of Technology of Amantys Power Electronics) look forward to their future cooperation and the further development of innovative technologies.

Mark Gerhard, former CEO of Cambridge games developer Jagex, and Andrew Gower – co-founder of the business – are building separate new ventures set to shake up the Cambridge UK games technology cluster.

Gerhard (pictured above) is powering up fast with Cambridge Ventures, which is advertising for 25 people across a range of related skills. He is CEO and co-founder of that business. He has also co-founded and is CEO of PlayFusion, incorporated in January.

Both Cambridge Ventures and PlayFusion are headquartered at St John’s Innovation Centre and their websites say they remain in stealth.

PlayFusion has four founders – Gerhard, David Gomberg (ex-CEO of Lazoo Inc), Rican Hodgson (ex-CFO and COO at Jagex) and screenwriter, television writer and author Justin Heimberg. Gerhard, Gomberg and Hodgson are listed as directors.

PlayFusion specialises in creating digital games that provide what the founders call “unparalleled interactive play experiences in conjunction with toys and video (YouTube/satellite/TV broadcast/movies/On-demand) content.”

They add that PlayFusion’s turnkey digital gaming platform, comprising proprietary API’s and components, brings continuous two-way interaction between physical toys and digital games. 

“Once we develop a game, our technology provides real-time interactivity and telemetry from physical toys and video content as they interact with it,” its web details state.

Gerhard publicly gave no reasons when he announced last September that he was quitting Jagex after seven years at the end of 2014 – but the itch appears to have been well and truly scratched with his latest enterprises. His team boasts collective experience spanning more than 150 game titles across multiple platforms.

The Cambridge Ventures website says that the business “only invest in and collaborate with teams that we believe will be awesome. We have numerous projects currently in stealth mode but we will be shouting about them soon. We only work with high calibre individuals who want to achieve extraordinary things as a team and have a load of fun along the way.”

Jagex, which has a new CEO in games industry ‘veteran’ Rod Cousens, and other companies in the Cambridge games cluster, might find competition for staff becoming even hotter than normal now Gerhard has left the RuneScape developer to forge ahead on his own. Cousens said when he took the reins in April that he was determined to build Jagex into an even greater force in the industry.

Jagex co-founder Andrew Gower has meanwhile added more spice to the pot with a new venture of his own. He developed RuneScape with his brother, Paul.

In December 2010 he left the Jagex board and has since founded a new gaming development and consulting company, Fen Research, which is gathering momentum. He is currently developing a futuristic sci-fi strategy game named Solstrike. Gower has designed a statically typed programming language to aid in the project's development.

Fen Research, also registered at St John’s Innovation Centre in Cambridge, was founded to “create groundbreaking new technology and products in the field of online games and user created content.” Its website states: “Over the last five years we have been creating an ambitious new games engine/programming language, which introduces an entirely new way of thinking about and creating online games.

“The hard work is finally beginning to pay off and our game engine has now got to the point where we can start making real games with it, and we currently have two exciting games in production. Our plan is to first create and release some games for you to enjoy, and meanwhile we will carry on improving the engine to the point where (further down the line), we can share the engine too.

“Fenforge is our engine and programming language which is designed from the ground up to make the development of online multiplayer games quicker, easier, and less error prone. Fenforge is still in development and we are not ready to share it just yet.”

The first game is a small, turn-based strategy game for two-six players called Solstrike. The second game will be much larger, the company says.

So why does the games industry need another engine? Gower’s team says: “There are plenty of engines out there that allow you to make single players games very fast, and there are many engines with excellent graphics.

“However, most of the existing multiplayer engines are not as flexible as we would like, and are tailored for making only a specific genre of game well (for example just first person shooters). Even then they often require a lot of customisation.

“Fenforge is general purpose and can be used to make any type of multiplayer game as easily as if you were making a single player game, and deals with all the latency, prediction and networking automatically. You don't even have to write a separate server and client! We do not believe this is something which can be effectively bolted onto an existing engine as an afterthought.

“To get this working really well has required us to first design our own programming language which represents the game in a fundamentally different way, and then build the entire engine on top of that idea.”

Recycling technology from Enval is attracting investors on the Cambridge crowdfunding site SyndicateRoom.

The company has raised almost £500k and with 33 days of its fundraising campaign to go was today well on the way towards its £800k target.

Combined with other initiatives Enval wants to haul in £1.1 million overall to accelerate commercialisation of its technology, which is geared towards cutting down a 160,000 tonnes waste mountain in the UK alone.

Enval’s recycling solution is lightweight, which reduces transport emissions; it protects produce, which reduces waste and it uses considerably less raw material. The end-of-life solution was the missing piece of the jigsaw but Enval says it has developed that solution and is claiming a world first.

Using patented technology, Enval is able to recover the aluminium foil in solid form, clean and ready to go right back into the supply chain. A typical Enval plant produces 200-400 tonnes of aluminium a year with a purity exceeding 98 per cent. It also achieves 75 per cent energy savings compared to primary aluminium production. 

The plastic component can either be converted into gas, which generates the electricity required to power the process, or into condensed oils that can be sold as fuel or feedstock for speciality chemicals.

Following the construction of its first commercial scale plant, Enval says it has received considerable interest from stakeholders across the packaging and recycling supply chains. 

A spokesperson said: “We already have backing from FMCG brands including Nestlé, Kraft Foods and Mondelēz International; we are working with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and several local authorities to introduce plastic aluminium laminates into existing household recycling schemes; and to-date we have received £900K in revenue.

“With our commercial plant now operational and ramping up to full capacity, we are looking to secure up to £1.1m investment to allow us to respond to the high level of interest we are experiencing. 

“We are already supported by an impressive arrange of business angels including members of Cambridge Capital Group, Anglia Capital Group and Cambridge Angels but at this exciting stage in our growth, we wanted to do things a little differently and open our round to a broad range of investors.”

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: David Boorman, Business Development Director at Enval (left) withManaging Director and Chief Technology Officer, Dr Carlos Ludlow-Palafox

Superchip designer ARM Holdings is set to increase its Cambridge UK headcount from 1,500 today to as many as 3,500 in the next 10 years.

The global technology influencer is set to recruit 1,000 more people in Cambridge by 2016 alone.

ARM is bursting at the seams in its current Cambridge HQ but has won city council planning consent for a massive upgrade of the facilities.

As previously reported in Business Weekly earlier this year, ARM’s intention is to expand and the importance to Cambridge of the council backing those plans will become evident as the scale of the expansion – the construction work and ARM employees’ spend – washes back into the local economy.

ARM has maximised the potential of its HQ at the Peterhouse Technology Park but it is a split site with staff operating across four buildings.

The city council agreed to release a substantial area of neighbouring green belt to accommodate the growth blueprint.

As we have also previously reported, ARM aims to turn its Cambridge mother ship into a hotspot of IoT excellence. ARM is in the forefront of the Internet of Things movement globally.

Planners say the expansion will also include two new multi-storey car parks – boosting parking capability by almost 550 spaces – roads and cycle routes, a new restaurant, auditorium and gymnasium.

By last October, ARM was employing 2,833 staff at its offices around the world so even then Cambridge, with 1500 headcount, was dominating the global employment picture for the company.

ARM CEO Simon Segars (pictured above) is now overseeing the strongest, prolonged period of growth in the company’s 25-year history. Besides the burgeoning headcount, strategic ARM acquisitions are also likely.

The company is reportedly in talks to buy Sansa Security, an Israeli company that specialises in mobile and computer-chip security, for up to $85 million this month.

ARM has reiterated its policy of not commenting on speculation but such a deal would be a snug fit: ARM IP is already in over 95 per cent of smartphones on the planet. Bolting on Sansa’s technology would strengthen ARM’s IoT capability across a range of devices.

Segars recently reported Q1 2015 revenues up 22 per cent year-on-year to £227.5m and pre-tax profit 24 per cent higher at £120.5m. Net cash generation was £68.5m compared to £40.1m this time last year.

One stand-out figure was ARM’s processor royalty revenue in the critical US market – up 31 per cent year-on-year. Segars reported growth across all ARM’s target segments.

Another 3.8 billion ARM-based chips were shipped in the quarter – 31 per cent ahead of this time last year. ARM reported strong year-on-year growth in shipments of microcontrollers and chips for mobile devices and saw its first physical IP royalty revenues from a leading edge FinFET manufacturing process.

Segars said the company had made an encouraging start to 2015 with more leading companies choosing to deploy ARM technology in their products. He said: “As the world becomes more digital and more connected we continue to see an increase in the demand for ARM’s smart and energy-efficient technology, which is driving both our licensing and royalty revenues.”
 

Frontier Silicon, which has operations in Cambridge, is collaborating with Google for a new play in the music streaming arena.

The companies have signed a co-development agreement that will see the inclusion of Google’s Cast-for-Audio technology in Frontier’s next generation connected audio solutions – due to ship in the first half of 2016.

Cast-for-Audio is an online content delivery platform which allows users to stream music services, such as Deezer, Pandora and Google Play Music, directly from the cloud to Cast-enabled speakers – all controlled by the user’s mobile device.

The key advantage of the system is that it allows users of multiple music services to stream audio through any set of Cast-enabled speakers, without being tethered to the mobile device.

Cast-for-Audio uses the same technology that supports Google’s established Chromecast video streaming platform and is a key component of Google’s home media streaming strategy.

Frontier Silicon’s turnkey technology solution allows consumer audio brands to build connected audio devices, such as Wi-Fi speakers and soundbars, quickly and easily. The company says that reliance on in-house engineering teams is reduced and speed to market is improved.

The market for Wi-Fi connected audio devices is expected to grow nearly threefold in the next three years – from 14 million units in 2014 to 40 million in 2017.

From 2016 onwards, a growing number of consumer audio brands will include Cast-for-Audio in their devices. This agreement will enable Frontier Silicon to address this market directly.

Anthony Sethill, CEO of the Toumaz Group (pictured) – parent of Frontier Silicon – said: “Our co-development agreement with Google will provide a major boost to our connected audio business in 2016 and beyond.

“In recent months, we have benefited from strong market growth and achieved a number of important design wins for our existing connected audio platform – driving 60 per cent growth in year to date sales. With the addition of Cast-for-Audio, we expect to drive this growth further.”

Frontier Silicon’s audio products offer solutions for DAB/DAB+, Internet Radio and Connected Audio - from silicon through software to production-ready platform designs.  Customers include Bose, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer,  Sony and Yamaha.
 

Nigel Bond, CEO of ink jet printing technology company Domino, issued a bullish call to arms as Japanese industrial giant Brother Industries today completed its £1 billion-plus acquisition of the Cambridge UK business.

Bond (pictured) forecast a renewed era of success for Domino with fresh products and engagement with new markets top of the agenda for the powerful company created by the acquisition.

The Domino management team and the brand will forge ahead autonomously  but reinforced by Brother’s huge war chest and formidable market penetration.

Bond said: “Brother respects and values Domino’s brand equity, technologies and strategic vision for the business and the markets it serves. As such, the companies will be working closely together on natural growth opportunities, as well as explore collaborative possibilities to develop new products.

“This is a very exciting time for Domino and the acquisition gives the business a solid foundation for the future. Domino will be able to leverage Brother’s size, manufacturing and R & D facilities, and sales networks to expand its global reach.

“For Brother, Domino will bring opportunities in new market sectors, as well as a strong customer base built on long term relationships. Brother and Domino share the same values, including a robust commitment to R & D and reputation for quality and service, and we look forward to the successful results this union will yield.”

All the legal elements of the takeover have been completed. Trading in Domino shares on the London Stock Exchange were each cancelled with effect from 8 a.m. today. All financial results will be consolidated into Brother Industries moving forward. The Domino brand and management structure will remain unaltered, with Domino Printing Sciences operating as an autonomous division within Brother Industries.

Domino has established a global reputation for the development and manufacture of high quality coding, marking and printing equipment, as well as the supply of aftermarket products and customer services. 

Brother cited the strength of Domino’s customer base across its coding & marking business and its desire to develop the scope and coverage of the digital printing sector as key reasons for the acquisition.

Cambridge technology entrepreneur, John Halfpenny, has launched a new venture geared to accelerating the advance of the Internet of Things. It has already engaged successfully with Chinese manufacturers.

Halfpenny has a track record for founding innovative Cambridge businesses. He is director of Energy Reducing Products, the smart energy management specialist, and was CEO of CMR Fuel Cells and Splashpower. He was formerly director of embedded software and Bluetooth programme manager at ARM.

With Giles Hutchison, Halfpenny has launched ACTiFi – a startup company that develops products for customers in the UK, Europe and the Far East. The products it develops are typically wireless, WiFi, or Bluetooth and internet connected.

ACTiFi has spent the past year developing a flexible IoT platform. It provides a simple web browser-based user interface to easily control wireless devices (10’s-10,000’s) all in one place. 

Halfpenny tells Business Weekly that the company has recently licensed and delivered two WiFi controlled systems to Chinese manufacturers. The business is now looking for new customers who could benefit from using the same platform, or who simply need products developing.

Halfpenny says: “The platform we have developed is flexible and can be used for any type of connected products. We have a very experienced product development team and have particular expertise taking products into volume manufacture.”

ACTiFi uses node.js and google V8 server side – as it is a fast, event-driven platform – plus ARM Cortex CPU’s for its devices. ACTiFi enables customers to add WiFi/BLE remote control and monitoring to their existing and new products. To date it has provided solutions for lighting, energy management and security. It handles the hardware/firmware/user interface/pre-production work ‘at cost’ and the customer goes on to make the product.

ACTiFi supplies customised microcontrollers to the customer so its model is a hybrid of IP licensing and fab-less microcontroller supply. Halfpenny says that the company wants the permanent core to be small, so ACTiFi is currently three full-time employees but draws on the services of another six individuals locally.

The company is self-financed and aims to grow organically from customer revenue. Halfpenny said: “A key issue for us is that IoT may take off very quickly but it may be longer than expected before this happens. Rather like Bluetooth. 

“You need external funds to grow quickly but not until that actually happens, hence the current, organic approach. Right now we target customers making professional (ie less cost sensitive) products so the volumes for these are relatively low compared (1 to 10 thousand units per annum per customer) with some forecasts for IoT devices as a whole. 

“We have a number of key USPs. Firstly, we offer a whole product solution based on our platform, which is available and works now from design to production. The solution is cost effective and reliable. We use well established, open protocols and data transport standards; also, our solution is very scaleable

“In terms of where we fit with the IoT vision, that’s a difficult one as there are so many different views of the IoT vision. The IoT is very likely to happen but how and when is by no means certain. 

“Our approach has been to build a scaleable, cost effective platform to deliver specific solutions today – but we have also made sure that it will co-exist and potentially merge with emerging, real-world IoT protocols as and when they do so.”

Professor Steve Jackson, FRS, FMedSci, is giving this year's Sackler Distinguished Lecture.  The title of his talk is 'Cellular responses to DNA damage: mechanistic insights and new cancer therapies'.

Steve is Professor of Biology at the University of Cambridge and Head of Cancer Research UK Laboratories at the Gurdon Institute.  His pioneering research has provided us with many of the key principles by which cells respond to and repair DNA damage.

22 lots of land, residential and commercial property go under the hammer on July 24th in Cambridge. Lots include:

• Land at 62 Chapel Hill, Little Thetford, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB6 3HB
• 2.96 acres Land at Heath Farm Road, Red Lodge, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, IP28 8LG
• 10.50 acres agricultural land Albury Road, Braughing Friars, Nr Ware, Herts, SG11 2NR
• 25.87 acres (10.47ha) grassland Sandon, Buntingford, Hertfordshire, SG9 0QZ
• Dumpling Wood, Orwell Road, Barrington, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB22 7SF
• 3 acre paddock and buiding at Orwell Road, Barrington, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB22 7SF
• Land at Horningsea Road, Fen Ditton, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB5 8SZ
• 4.49 acres of Land off North Fen Drove, Haddenham, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB6 3PS
• Glebe Farm, Chrishall, Saffron Walden, Essex, SG8 8QH
• Land at The Glebe, Frogge Street, Ickleton, Saffron Walden, Essex, CB10 1SH
• Land at Upwell Road, March, Cambridgeshire, PE15 9DT
• Development Site, 31-39 Brook Street, Elsworth, Cambridgeshire, CB23 4HX
• School Farmhouse, Ely Road, Chittering, Cambridgeshire, CB25 9PH
• The Institute, St Neots Road, Eltisley, Cambridgeshire, PE19 6TE
• Industrial Park, 18 Sandall Road, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, PE13 2RS
• 3 Cross Keys Court, Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, CB24 8UW
• 9 Portland Place, Cambridge, CB1 1JZ

Our auctions are held at our own purpose-built salerooms which are conveniently located to the south of Cambridge City Centre. The salerooms are well located for access to Cambridge Railway Station and the M11 road network. There are a number of private parking bays and an NCP multi-storey car park within 200m of the saleroom.

The ninth in a highly successful series of conferences, the 2015 event is set to be another hit, and an excellent use of time for today’s digital marketer. As well as expert speakers, cutting edge content and lively discussion, you can look forward to great networking.

Delegates attend from across the South-East and beyond, finding this conference to be among the best for helpful, down to earth advice and information that they can use to reflect and refine their digital strategies. Talks include:

Industry overview: State of the (Digital) Nation
Tim Elkington, Chief Strategy Officer, Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB)

What’s new in Search
Ann Stanley, Anicca Digital

Search (Re)invented
James Murray, UK Search Advertising Lead, Microsoft

How AVG married marketing segmentation
Rob Welsby, Further Group
With cutting edge content across both B2B and B2C.

SEO for International Business Success
Jack Porteous, Language and Culture Advisor, UKTI

2015 B2B Survey Results: ‘The Recipe for Digital Success’
Claire Herbert, Account Director, Omobono

B2B and B2C Content marketing 2015
Dave Chaffey, CEO Smart Insights
Tools, techniques and measures to improve ROI

Future technology, demography and global challenges
Alan Howard, Sector Head for Thought Leadership at The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)

The technology corridor that runs from Peterborough through Cambridge and Stansted to London beats Singapore for investment in hi-tech and Boston, US for new jobs – but lack of transport investment could derail its success, business leaders have warned.

A conference in London was told that this UK golden goose was in threat of being cooked by a lack of investment in improving its transport infrastructure.

Research published yesterday by the London Stansted Cambridge Consortium (LSCC) showed the region’s incredible international global competitiveness compared to other global high knowledge regions:-

• An average of 150 patents per million people are filed each year in Singapore – less than half the rate in Cambridgeshire – while Singapore spends an average of €1,100 per head on R & D each year – less than East Anglia at €1,332
• Jobs in the Greater Boston metropolitan area grew by 3.7 per cent from 2005-2013 – around half of the growth rate seen in the LSCC over the same period (9.1 per cent)

At a conference with over 200 delegates, the LSCC launched its Case for West Anglia Rail Line report, explaining that the corridor is a significant economic asset for the UK, with increasing global significance. However to maintain its global economic competitiveness it needs to invest in its infrastructure.

The LSCC’s chair, Greg Clark, who this week received a CBE for services to economic development, said: “Our research makes a compelling call for investment to bring forward thousands of additional hi-tech jobs in key growth sectors such as life sciences.

“This will help to sustain the dynamic growth of this corridor and drive the UK economy. Now government needs to make good on its promise with the West Anglia Taskforce and open the door to investment in our railway, to make sure it doesn’t hold the region back.”

Isabel Dedring, deputy mayor for transport, said: “Investment in the West Anglia Main Line is crucial to unlock the potential of the Upper Lee Valley. This is a hugely important opportunity area but we will not see the tens of thousands of jobs and homes without a better railway service.

“Four-tracking would not only deliver this but also improve services to Stansted Airport and along the whole corridor to Cambridge and beyond – that's why we are working so closely with partners in London, Essex, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

“The West Anglia Task Force, announced by the Mayor and the Chancellor of the Exchequer in February, will help us all win the argument for why investment in this railway is so desperately needed.”

John McGill, director of LSCC and chair of the West Anglia Routes Group said:  it was time the UK woke up to the economic leverage it could gain globally by investing in the Cambridge tech cluster.

He said: “Asia and America may catch the headlines, but this powerhouse British region is beating both on hi-tech investment and jobs. Cambridgeshire has more patent applications per resident than Singapore, and our region has more investment in R & D per person than that Asian powerhouse and twice the rate of new jobs being created than Boston, US.

“The only thing that is holding us back is proper investment in infrastructure, and that is why we are so determined to convince the Government to invest in the region.”

The report launched yesterday will be used to inform the immediate issue of the refranchising of the Anglia Line, where the consortium is calling for significant investment, including new rolling stock.

It will also feed into Network Rail’s Anglia Route Utilisation Study, which will define the long-term infrastructure investment in the line. 
 

Regenerative medicine is about growing or re-growing cells, tissues and organs for implantation. Andy Goldberg OBE, Honorary Consultant Surgeon with the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital will be sharing his insights in this fascinating field.

Andy Goldberg OBE, Honorary Consultant Surgeon with the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital will be sharing his insights in this fascinating field.  He runs a pioneering research program exploring regenerative medicine treatments, including musculoskelatal regeneration, cartilage transplantation and the effects of Stem Cell Therapy on Achilles Tendinopathy. He was responsible for the creation of the National Joint Registry for Ankle Replacements and the Medical Futures Innovation Awards. He was awarded an OBE in the 2011 Queen’s New Year’s Honours List for services to medicine.

This event is kindly sponsored by Kinneir Dufort, an integrated research, innovation, design and development consultancy, established in 1977.  It celebrates the official launch of its Medical Device Design Centre of Excellence in Cambridge and its recent Queen’s Award for International Trade.

A new legal force in the region has been created by the merger of Hewitsons in Cambridge and City of London practice Moorhead James.

Branded Hewitson Moorhead, the merger will enable and accelerate significant growth for the new entity. Hewitson Moorhead will have 46 partners, 120 legally qualified personnel in total, revenues of over £16 million and offices in Cambridge, Northampton, Milton Keynes and London. The merger is due to complete on July 1.

Hewitsons is an established, Cambridge-headquartered UK Top 200 law firm that has been operating in London since 2013 through a small office in Euston. The merger with Moorhead James, a commercial law firm based near Blackfriars in the heart of the City and legal district, will build on Hewitsons’ existing presence in the capital and reinforce and strengthen its offering in Cambridge, Northampton and Milton Keynes. 

With London viewed as a gateway to the world, the merger will also further enhance the ability to service clients with international legal requirements via the international referral network, LawExchange, which Hewitsons founded in 1994.

Colin Jones (pictured), current managing partner of Hewitsons, will assume the same role at Hewitson Moorhead. The merged firm’s management board will include Christine Bowyer-Jones, current joint managing partner of Moorhead James, who will represent the London office.

Jones, said: “This merger represents an important step for our expanding presence in London and we are delighted to have found the ideal partner in Moorhead James.

“We wanted to join with a firm whose business plan and culture was aligned to ours in giving us the opportunity to grow and best serve a client base of private clients, property and not-for-profit organisations, as well as being able to introduce our specialist corporate and commercial services to the many first class companies and organisations for whom Moorhead James act and the commercial London market.

“The merger strengthens our geographical reach and consolidates our leading position in Cambridge, Northampton and Milton Keynes by offering our clients additional practice area expertise where they require – for example in the sports and AIM arenas.

“It also enables more of our lawyers to work from London in line with client needs. This is an attractive option both for existing staff and for the future recruitment we have planned. We look forward to growing the new firm for the advantage of our clients and staff and are very excited about the opportunities the merger will enable.”

US technology giant Qualcomm has snapped up its second cutting-edge Cambridge company this year by agreeing to acquire Nujira.

Qualcomm sources have confirmed the deal to Business Weekly but are not releasing any figures and say no more details are yet to hand.

The company is close to completing the $2.5 billion acquisition of Cambridge wireless company CSR – a transaction set to close by the end of this summer.

Snapping up Nujira, which specialises in envelope tracking technology, has looked to be on the cards for some while. In 2013, Qualcomm became the first company to ship a chip with such technology, which it claimed to be the industry’s first for 3G and 4G LTE mobile devices.

The new Google Nexus 5 not only features the company’s fastest mobile processor, the Snapdragon 800 SoC, but also features a certain Qualcomm QFE1100 envelope tracking chipset, which is a front-end for OEMs to design global 4G LTE compatible devices, like the Nexus 5.

The Nexus 5 also utilises the Qualcomm QFE1100 feature, an important component of the upcoming Qualcomm RF360 Front End, a comprehensive, system-level solution that allows OEMs to develop a single, global 4G LTE design.

Nujira is a world leader in ET technology but CEO Tim Haynes (pictured) had no comment to make when approached by Business Weekly about a potential acquisition.

Nujira has 240 patents and earlier this year raised $20 million (£12.2m) to support production of its Coolteq chips, fund continued development of its long term product roadmap and open a new design centre in Santa Clara in Silicon Valley.

Each of the existing angel and major investors participated in the round including Hermann Hauser’s Amadeus Capital Partners, Climate Change Capital, Environmental Technologies Fund, SAM Private Equity and NES Partners.

Investec Bank also introduced new investors to the company including GAM – on behalf of its GAM Star Technology strategy – and Investec as well as other institutional and high net worth clients.

Haynes said at the time: “Envelope Tracking will shortly be a standard component in 4G smartphones and tablets but we aren’t just focused on how ET can be implemented in the latest handsets; we are already working on the next three generations of our ET chips.

“The company is in a strong position, we have good traction with some world-leading customers and we have a compelling product roadmap. The new investment will be important in helping us execute our aggressive growth plans, as we look to take advantage of our position as the leading authority on ET.”

To support its product development roadmap Nujira announced it would be opening a new design centre in Santa Clara. Adding to Nujira’s world-class design team in the UK, the new hub was designed to focus on the development of next generation ET ICs.

Envelope tracking has become a must-have technology recently after being incorporated into high-end smartphones, including the Nexus 5, the Galaxy Note 3 and HTC’s One M8. The technology optimises the power flowing through a smartphone’s radio, cutting power drain on the battery.

This February, Qualcomm announced its entry into the RF front end business with a chip-set using envelope tracking – invented by Nujira. Qualcomm adopted the Nujira approach.

Nujira has actually been a pioneer of ET as applied to cellular radio for more than a decade. The technique saves power compared with conventional constant-supply voltage power amplifiers (PAs) by dynamically adapting the PA supply voltage to the signal amplitude, thus reducing the power consumption of the PA that transmits the signal to the antenna.