FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, London, UK, 08 July 2010. Octopus Ventures (Octopus), a division of Octopus Investments, has announced an investment of £1 million from its £30 million Octopus Capital for Enterprise Fund (OCfE) into VYRE Ltd (the Company), a digital content and information management specialist.  The investment represents the thirteenth deal Octopus has completed in 2010.

London based VYRE, is one of the market leading providers in storing and categorising digital assets. Its core product, VYRE Unify, provides sophisticated content management systems designed to build cutting edge websites and increase marketing and branding efficiency, whilst driving down costs and speeding up the delivery time.  Investment from Octopus will help facilitate VYRE's plans for growth.

Paddy Woods Ballard, Associate Director at Octopus, commented:  "VYRE is well positioned in a dynamic sector with strong growth opportunities.  Its management team led by Andy Peters, are fully committed to driving and implementing VYRE's strategic plans for expansion.  

"It is a well-respected forward thinking Company, trusted by a wealth of the finest brands including Virgin Holidays, Diageo, Shell, IMG Media and Nokia.  More recently, VYRE's ability to manage websites on a grand scale was recognised when it successfully won business from sports specialist broadcaster, ESPN STAR Sports.  We are delighted to be working alongside VYRE."

Andy Peters, CEO of VYRE, commented: "We are very happy to have Octopus on board. When we were looking for investment, we explored traditional bank finance but most were simply not prepared to provide funds, and the few that were couldn't offer the same level of flexible funding as Octopus."

Investment from Octopus was made via its Octopus Capital for Enterprise fund, a UK government backed initiative, which is specifically aimed at helping small, growing businesses obtain fresh liquidity during the economic downturn, at a time when the banking industry has been reluctant or unable to lend. 

Peters continues: "Investment from Octopus is only the tip of the iceberg.  They have a wealth of experience, and an impressive line up of portfolio companies, that we've already begun to speak to, which we are sure will lead to more business for VYRE moving forward."

Octopus is one of the UK's fastest growing investment companies, and now has over £1.6 billion¹ of funds under management. Octopus specialises in working with entrepreneurs to provide funding solutions and invests between £500k and £5 million in companies across the whole risk spectrum, from early stage to buy out. 

Paddy Woods Ballard led the deal on behalf of Octopus with Stuart Nicol 

Octopus was advised by CMS Cameron McKenna (Legal), CIL(Commercial Due Diligence) and HMT(Financial Due Diligence).

VYRE was advised by Marriott Harrison (Legal).

ENDS

About Octopus Investments Ltd (www.octopusinvestments.com) Established in 2000, Octopus Investments is a leading investment specialist, providing investors with access to a growing range of innovative investment solutions including a discretionary management service, a range of single manager funds; equity OEICS, venture capital trusts, enterprise investment schemes and inheritance tax solutions. Since inception, Octopus has grown its customer base to over 22,000 with funds under management of over £1.6 billion. Octopus was voted 'VCT Provider of the Year' in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Octopus was voted the top UK financial services company to work for in the Sunday Times survey of 'Best 100 SMEs to Work For' in 2008 and was re-listed in the top 100 companies for 2009.  Additionally, the Company won the 'Badenoch & Clark Business of the Year' award and the '3i Growth Strategy of the Year Award' at the 2008 National Business Awards, Regional Finals, South East of England, in July 2008, and the 'Business of the Year' award at the 2009 National Business Awards, Regional Finals, South East of England, in July 2009. Octopus has over 140 staff with 30+ investment professionals.

About Octopus Ventures (www.octopusventures.com) Octopus Ventures, a division of Octopus Investments, manages circa £250 million in VCT and EIS funds as well as the £30 million Octopus Capital for Enterprise (OCfE) Fund. Octopus typically invests from £500,000 to £5 million per investment and is a leading player in the UK venture capital industry. Octopus is a generalist investor, preferring to back exceptional entrepreneurial teams rather than specific sectors. Octopus looks for businesses which can create, transform or dominate an industry and is focused on the UK.

About VYRE Ltd. (www.VYRE.com) VYRE Unify is a unique collection of content management and marketing automation capabilities for creating, sharing and managing digital information and digitally-led projects.

VYRE's single platform approach provides a range of modular solution options while increasing process efficiency, eradicating content silos, helping drive down costs and delivering a quicker time to market.

For example, VYRE Unify can be used as a sophisticated content management system to build cutting-edge websites. It can also be used to manage images and video, or to create print brochures, flyers and adverts.  In short wherever digital assets are involved, VYRE Unify can bring speed and efficiency to a project.

VYRE Unify Solutions:

• Marketing and Branding
• Content Management
• Digital Asset Management
• Print Management
• Social Networking
• Video Management

In support of the VYRE Unify Solutions VYRE provides a full service offer that includes creative design, requirement analysis, project management, change management, support and hosting.

VYRE clients include: Diageo PLC, Nokia PLC, Virgin Holidays, Inghams, Oasis Community Learning, Queens University Belfast, ESPN STAR Sports, The Society of London Theatre, Blink Productions, Cambridge University Press, The AAT and IMG Media Group.