Galaxy Group expands global start-up service network with US$ 30 million investment in IP Group

LONDON, June 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Beijing Galaxy World Group (Galaxy Group) announced a US$ 30 million strategic investment in IP Group (LSE: IPO), a well-known British developer of intellectual property-based business. The payment and settlement of relevant shares will be completed no later than 18 August 2017.

Henceforth Galaxy Group will look to cooperate with IP Group in various fields including potential co-investment in IP Group's portfolio companies and continued exploration of further collaboration in both China and the UK. Three other institutions are also joining this round as new investors – renowned Singaporean investment firm Temasek Holdings, British asset manager M&G and Australia's Telstra Super Pty Ltd, in addition to support from IP Group's existing shareholders.

IP Group is a listed British company that commercialises intellectual property from the world's leading universities and research institutions. The IP Group team has spent many years developing its approach to identifying attractive intellectual property ("IP"), nurturing and building businesses around such IP and then providing capital and support along the journey from "cradle to maturity". IP Group works in close cooperation with many top universities in countries including the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

According to IP Group's announcement, the funds raised this time around will be used to support cooperation with elite universities around the world to commercialise outstanding intellectual property. Since its founding, IP Group has a proven track record of success with the gross internal rate of return (IRR) on its portfolio approximating 19% and has created more than 2,000 new jobs.

Strategic investor, Galaxy Group, founded in 2005, is a leading intelligent business Internet platform in China. It has four business units: (I) Global entrepreneurial growth service unit which provides businesses with start-up investing and services from seed stage to pre-IPO, committing itself to become an industrial investor superpower and co-founder of start-ups; (II) Cloud computing / big data / artificial intelligence (AI) unit which offers cloud computing, big data, AI and other frontier technology services to governments and enterprises; (III) Fintech unit which provides financial services to small and medium-sized enterprises through cloud computing, big data, AI, and other technological methods; (IV) Business Internet unit which involves online and offline integration and helps traditional industries in reconstructing business chain by integrating Internet and applying smart technologies. The four units have developed into an open and cooperative industrial ecosystem.

Maodong Xu, the chairman of Galaxy Group, said: "The strategic investment into IP Group marks an important step for Galaxy to build a global entrepreneurial growth network. The cooperation with IP Group would enable us to quickly introduce cutting-edge technological projects in fields including the Internet, big data and AI from global top universities and will, in the form of co-funding, help these projects be in shape for a strong foothold in China. In this way the world's state-of-the-art research findings would be converted into technology products and applications so as to propel China's industries to incorporate the Internet and smart technologies".

Apart from the UK office, Galaxy Group has set up offices in countries including the US and Israel. The group's global entrepreneurial growth network has already taken shape. By offering fundamental entrepreneurial services and playing the role of co-founder and industrial investor superpower, Galaxy Group's network empowers start-ups with a highly friendly platform and helps them grow and compete in a better environment.

Galaxy Group's global entrepreneurial growth network provides entrepreneurs with diverse services including co-founding, industrial services and one-stop start-up services.

The company has institutionalized the co-founders of start-ups worldwide. After integrating the entrepreneurial experience of its own and varied industries, Galaxy Group seamlessly embeds combined resources resulting from the integration into start-ups, providing them with eight major services including strategic planning, business model building, financing and capital raising to help them take shape in a correct and effective manner.

Relying on its broad entrepreneurial ecosystem and strong base of capital, resources and technology, Galaxy Group, which offers project investment, financial services, big data, AI, business services and other resources to start-ups, is becoming an industry investment superpower. Moreover, Galaxy Group provides one-stop fundamental services through its affiliated companies such as Galaxy Enterprise Service, Galaxy Space and Galaxy Fintech as well as its cooperation with Ali Cloud, Amazon and other well-known third-party institutions. The company is also capable of offering more than 100 services to start-ups: financing, office space solutions, R&D, legal services, human resource services, among others.

That through co-founding, Galaxy Group has cultivated over 200 enterprises spanning more than 20 fields such as big data, AI, fintech and enterprise services, since 2009. Galaxy Group is also the controlling shareholder of three listed companies: Tianma Bearing Group Co.,Ltd. (002122.SZ), Zhejiang Busen Garments Co.,Ltd. (002569.SZ) and JMU Ltd. (NASDAQ: JMU). With a market capitalization totaling more than 100 billion RMB, Galaxy Group has served 300,000 start-ups, 1 million enterprises and 400 million individual clients.

Due to its outstanding performance, Galaxy Group has won 2016 China Venture Best Enterprise Direct Investment Institution Award, together with Alibaba and Tencent. Galaxy Group's investment offerings now range from seed stage to Pre-IPO.

In addition to the Global entrepreneurial growth service unit, Galaxy Group has made fruitful achievements in the fintech unit, the cloud computing/big data/AI unit and the Business Internet unit. Galaxy Fintech also explores deeply into fintech innovation and builds a bridge between small and micro-sized enterprises and financial institutions to improve efficiency and intelligence. On top of that, Galaxy Cloud, Galaxy one-stop enterprise SaaS platform and big data platform have been adopted in a dozen of fields including government affairs, transportation, security and retailing. In each of some 10 traditional industries that Galaxy Group heavily focuses on, dozens of enterprises that closely incorporate the Internet into their businesses have been gradually growing.

Industry experts believe Galaxy Group's strategic investment in IP Group serves to not just enhance China's comprehensive innovation strength but explores a new momentum for development under the global cooperation framework of the "One Belt and One Road." Meanwhile, the investment indicates a breakthrough for Galaxy Group's proprietary development.

SOURCE Galaxy Group