Release Date: 28th February 2005

Icona Solutions Ltd secures development funding from North West Equity Fund

Icona Solutions Ltd, a University of Leeds spinout company, has secured an additional £250k funding from the North West Equity Fund to maintain progress in the market development of their innovative aestheticaT software.

Icona, established in February 2003, has developed leading edge software to visualise the impact of manufacturing variation on product quality. The initial target market sector is the automotive industry.

For the first time, engineers are able to review the effects of manufacturing variation on the appearance of a vehicle or sub-assemblies, such as gap and flush between bodywork components or interior assemblies such as an instrument panel. This can now be achieved through the increased use of computer based virtual prototypes rather than life sized real models.

Dr David Belford, Executive Chairman, Icona Solutions said, "We are pleased to have secured the additional support required to enable the company to achieve rapid growth in this exciting market. We shall be re-locating to the North West Region in the near future".

Richard Lewis,, Investment Manager, North West Development Fund said "We are delighted to have provided investment to support the development of Icona Solutions. Their aestheticaT software is a leading edge tool that is already proving itself in the automotive industry and we look forward to working with the high calibre management team as they look to exploit it further."

About Icona

Founded in 2003, Icona developed from pioneering work undertaken at the School of Computing, University of Leeds as part of a government funded (EPSRC) project. The team leader, Dr John Maxfield joined Icona Solutions on a full time basis as founder and Technical Director. The Icona have now developed significant added functionality to the original proof of concept University work.

The application of Icona aesthetica™ software enables designers and engineers to simulate the effect of manufacturing variation realistically on a virtual prototype so that aesthetic review can be undertaken on the virtual model. This reduces physical prototyping or expensive post-production re-design. aesthetica™ software can be utilised at many stages in the design process, in place of physical prototypes reducing cost and improving efficiency.

About North West Equity Fund

North West Equity Fund (NWEF) is a £35m venture capital fund that is looking to make investments in growing north west based businesses. NWEF is a generalist fund that will support early stage, development capital and buy-out opportunities in a wide variety of sectors.