In further evidence that there is investment capital available for innovative Australian companies in this bear economy, Adelaide-based seed investor Playford Capital ^[1] succeeded in generating more than $12 million in innovation investment during the 2008-09 financial year.

Using its own investment stake of $1.39 million, Playford attracted co-investment of more than $10.8 million – 70 percent of it from private investors – for innovative South Australian companies.

Earlier this month, the Federal Government awarded Playford Capital $7.45 million ^[2] (12 percent) from the Innovation Investment Follow-on Fund (IIFF) to invest in its current portfolio of companies.

Playford has now attracted a total of $90 million investment to SA-based growth companies, including:

• Neuro Vision Technology ^[3], a company that has developed a system to assess and treat people with neurological vision impairment caused by acquired brain injury from trauma, such as an accident or a stroke. The system is being used to assist the rehabilitation of US war veterans at hospitals in California and Florida and British war veterans in Scotland.
• Signostics ^[4], a company pioneering a new generation of affordable personal ultrasound devices for point-of-care use by medical practitioners and veterinarians. In May, Signostics announced it had secured clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its palm-sized personal ultrasound product.
• Cavitus ^[5] develops and provides high-power ultrasonics (HPU) applications for liquid-phase food and beverage processing and the wine industry. The company’s patent portfolio ranges across HPU cleaning and disinfection, extraction and fermentation management.
• e-channel ^[6] is a search engine marketing specialist, whose Dynamic Creative ^[7] software enables large, database-rich websites to automate the creation of keyword lists and optimising the performance of advertising campaigns.
• Embertec ^[8] is developing intelligent, power-efficient solutions that target power reduction and the ultimate elimination of standby power for consumer electronics and appliances.
• Reproductive Health Science Pty Ltd ^[9] is commercialising faster, cheaper and less traumatic pre-natal diagnosis of chromosomal disorders.
• Waterfind is a water trading business that uses the www.waterfind.com.au ^[10] website to match buyers and sellers of water rights.