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This is the hovercraft web site for Howard Boyle |
NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CANADIAN CORPORATE NEWS FOR: WORKING OPPORTUNITY FUND
FEBRUARY 18, 1999 RE: Working Opportunity Fund Hits $100 Million Investment Milestone After Record Year VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--The Working Opportunity Fund (WOF) announced today it has invested over $100 million in small and medium size businesses in British Columbia. The $100 million milestone was reached after WOF placed $34.7 million in 12 new and 15 follow-on investments in 1998 and an additional $5 million in one new and four follow-on investments already in 1999. CEO and President David Levi said, "We had a record-breaking year in 1998 for investments in high growth sectors of the province, and 1999 is starting off very strong. If we maintain this investment pattern, we will continue to exceed our investment schedule by a wide margin." WOF's portfolio of companies are based in the province's emerging sectors; 25 percent in information technology, 25 percent in biotechnology, 25 percent in advanced manufacturing, 10 percent tourism-related, 7.5 percent environmental, 5 percent in film and entertainment, 2.5 percent in medical devices. Four recent investments, NeuroMed Technologies Inc., Soft Tracks Enterprises Inc., Canair Hovercraft Inc., and WaveMakers Research Inc. operate within these sectors. NeuroMed is a biopharmaceutical company which discovers and develops drugs for the treatment of neurological disorders, including stroke and pain. Using proprietary technology and leading scientific collaborators, NeuroMed has identified a class of compounds intended for use on a clinically proven calcium channel target found in the brain. These small molecule drugs are capable of easily crossing the blood-brain barrier unlike most biopharmaceuticals. NeuroMed received $1.1 million in funding from WOF. Soft Tracks develops and markets software critical for facilitating 'wireless' financial transactions (debit and credit card processing from point-of-sale terminals). Their solutions are designed to optimize the transmission of transaction data over wireless networks as well as intelligently managing incomplete or failed transmissions. Customers include financial institutions and wireless network providers. The company also develops and markets comprehensive and integrated software solutions for ski resort management. Soft Tracks' system effectively streamlines the back office, improves communication and data flow, reduces fraud, provides accurate marketing information and increases the level of service provided to resort guests. WOF invested $500,000 in Soft Tracks. Canair designs and manufactures light utility hovercraft for a variety of commercial applications. The ability of the craft to back-up and steer is one of the advantages it has over other small utility hovercraft. This, together with other advanced design features, has solved difficult transportation problems for some northern communities, especially during the thaw and freeze up seasons. The hovercraft also allows for viewing of shallow rivers or ecologically sensitive areas; monitoring and sampling of industrial tailings ponds where no other vehicles can travel due to the nature of the material in the pond; and search and rescue applications. Canair received $100,000 in funding from WOF. WaveMakers is on the leading edge of the shift from keyboard input to voice input for computers, video-conferencing systems and even today's new technology-based toys. The company's software technology can instantly locate the source of a voice or sound, identify it and even filter out all other sounds. The software can also identify exactly who is speaking. The location and identification of a sound can then be passed to other software for a myriad of uses, including automatically moving a camera, or letting a speech recognition product know who is saying what. The company is currently completing development of "far field" technology that will eliminate the need for headset-mounted microphones for speech recognition. WOF invested $1,000,000 in WaveMakers. The Working Opportunity Fund is a labour sponsored venture capital corporation owned by approximately 30,000 BC residents. The Fund has invested more than $100 million in 41 small to medium sized businesses in BC and has a net asset value of over $200 million, making it the largest venture capital corporation in the province. WOF continues to be two and a half years ahead of its legislated investment schedule. -30- FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Working Opportunity Fund (EVCC) Ltd. Murray Munro (604) 895-7282
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