VC Market Shows Daith in ANT to Sum of £2.5 Million

Total investment in ANT to date now £8.5 million

Cambridge, 30 July 2001

ANT Limited, a leading developer of Internet appliance software, has secured a new round of VC-initiated funding that totals over £2.5 million. This brings the total investment in ANT to date to £8.5 million. VCF Partners led the round, which was strengthened by re-investment from existing VCs. With willing parties on all sides, the round was closed in a period of just eight weeks.

VCF Partners invested £2 million of the new funding from two Venture Capital Trusts, Foresight Technology and TriVest, while Inflexion plc and Beeson Gregory Technology Investments Limited, two of ANT's existing investors, each contributed an additional 10% of their original investment. The remaining funds came from private investors.

"We first met the ANT team two years ago and were impressed with the people and the technology," said Matt Taylor, Partner of VCF. "Since then the company has established a leading position in its market and achieved high volume sales. So when the opportunity came to invest, we moved swiftly. It's good to deal with such a motivated team and to work with quality co-investors like Inflexion."

Paul O'Donovan, Senior Analyst, Consumer Applications at Gartner Dataquest commented, "Software is one key to the growth and success of the home entertainment and digital consumer market. Consumer confidence remains high and even in this period of economic uncertainty the digital consumer market is forecast to remain relatively buoyant. Companies with the right product at the right time have tremendous potential for growth in this rapidly evolving market."

"This is an amazing achievement for ANT and proof of the market's confidence in our business," said Simon Woodward, President and CEO of ANT Limited. "This new investment comes at an exciting time for us: we've recently moved to a new global HQ in the UK and are progressing with a programme of rapid expansion and recruitment. We will use this funding to build on the substantial growth we have already achieved, further developing our product offerings and support for our customers and partners."

ANT continues to play a major role in driving the growth of the Internet appliance market with its communication software fast becoming the technology of choice for interactive television and home entertainment devices. ANT's software enables Internet browsing and email communication from digital set-top boxes, Internet televisions, household appliances, wireless and other non-PC devices.

About ANT Software Limited

ANT plc (www.antplc.com) is a leading provider of digital TV client and consumer electronic software solutions. ANT's unique client solutions allow robust and consistent delivery of digital-media, user interfaces, interactive services and applications to the TV and portable media devices. ANT enables service providers to efficiently create and deploy successful solutions to the market that deliver high value and clear differentiation.

ANT's products are pre-integrated with many industry-leading solutions and are based upon open standards, enabling low-risk, cost-effective roll-out of services, while ensuring flexible client hardware choice with efficient bill of materials. ANT software has been extensively deployed by customers throughout the world including Chunghwa Telecom, Foxconn, France Telecom, Humax, LG/Nortel, Philips, Sagem, Samsung, SaskTel, Telecom Italia and Thomson.

ANT plc's shares are listed on AIM, a London Stock Exchange regulated market, under the ticker ANTP (Reuters: ANTP.L, Bloomberg: ANTP.LN).

About VCF Partners

VCF Partners has a successful 16 year track record investing in technology businesses. We invest up to £2m per transaction, focussing on companies with early revenues through to pre IPO and AIM situations. We currently manage about £58 million in 2 venture capital trusts, Foresight Technology VCT plc and TriVest VCT plc. Foresight Technology is one of the most successful venture capital trusts. Since launch in 1997, Foresight has made 24 investments in UK technology companies and in 2000 paid a dividend of 100% of the original subscription price to its shareholders. For further information please visit www.vcf.co.uk.

Trademarks

ANT, the ANT logo, Galio, Fresco and PurePlay are all trademarks or registered trademarks of ANT Software Limited. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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