NPT secured investment of £1.5m from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund

First, NPT secured investment of £1.5m from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, accompanied by £0.7m of investments from angels, including additional investments from Par Equity (their third round of support) and Cambridge Angels (their second). This investment gives runway well into 2020 as the company builds up its commercial relationships with a view to becoming cash positive during the year. However, a further £0.8m is still sought, to achieve the overall final target raise for the year of £3.0m, to give additional headroom.

Second, the company sent out its first invoices to customers. One was for process trials on wheat straw; the other for the provision of C5 (xylose) product sugar samples. So the company is now officially no longer pre-revenue. We expect sales from trials and samples to grow significantly in the year ahead as the company builds its commercial relationships preparatory to signing the first REFNOVA^® process licenses.