Aon Advantage Funds launches investment vehicle for IP-backed lending
Aon , a global professional services firm, announced that Aon Advantage Funds LLC, an affiliated registered investment adviser of Aon, has launched a new investment vehicle that seeks to provide growth companies, primarily in North America, with new ways to access capital based on the value of their intellectual property (IP). M&G Investments, a global asset manager through its Catalyst private assets strategy, has committed $300 million in capital to the new vehicle.
To date, Aon has supported more than $1 billion of financing in the market, through the services offered by its IP Solutions group and the lending strategies offered by Aon Advantage Funds.
“Aon Advantage Funds can help organizations protect and grow their business by matching capital with companies that have transformative technologies, enabling better capital decisions for emerging companies. Working with M&G allows us to help create a more sustainable world by providing minimally or non-dilutive capital to innovative companies.” – Matthew Farrar, managing partner and head of Aon Advantage Funds.
Catalyst is M&G’s global strategy focused on innovation for impact, investing up to $5.6 billion into privately owned businesses working to create a more sustainable world. Catalyst’s investment and strategic collaboration with Aon will help develop the firm’s IP-backed investing strategy.
Through its commitment to Aon Advantage Funds, M&G is seeking to unlock the value of Aon’s proprietary capabilities as leaders in the IP space. The mission of the fund is to pursue insured first lien IP-backed loans with equity-backed, innovation-led organizations, prioritizing opportunities with strong potential to help drive a positive impact for society through the application of their IP.
“We are looking forward to helping innovative technology businesses accelerate their development. With Aon’s IP Solutions, which help us understand the value of a business’ intellectual property, and Aon’s insurance brokerage service, we can offer financing solutions as innovative and unique as the technology companies benefiting from this capital.” – Thierry Masson, M&G head of Catalyst – Americas.
Aon Advantage Funds’ IP-backed lending strategy helps companies enhance the value of their IP portfolios, harnessing the power of an IP platform of almost 150 million global patents mapped to more than 7,000 markets. Aon Advantage Funds leverages the firm’s deep knowledge and patented machine-learning technology to provide minimally or non-dilutive growth capital at scale to eligible IP-rich businesses. In 2022, Aon’s IP Advantage Funds had access to more than $550 million in available capital.
