nDreams launches The Assembly for Oculus RIFT

Mercia Technologies PLC

("Mercia" or "the Company")

Mercia portfolio Company, nDreams, launches The Assembly for Oculus RIFT

Mercia Technologies PLC (AIM: MERC), which is focused on the creation, funding and scaling of innovative businesses with high growth potential from the UK regions, is pleased to announce that portfolio company nDreams has successfully launched its first major virtual reality ("VR") game, The Assembly. The game is currently available for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, with a PlayStation VR version due to launch later this year. The trailer supporting the launch can be viewed at http://www.ndreams.com/.

nDreams, one of the leading UK-based games developer and publishers, set out to make The Assembly the most compelling interactive story game available in VR to date, combining realistic graphics with life-like positional audio and an intuitive in-game User Interface. Ahead of its launch on 19 July 2016, the game received excellent preview coverage in international media.

Having been in development for more than two years, the launch of The Assembly is a significant step forward for nDreams. Furthermore, it follows the announcement at Google's I/O event in May 2016 that nDreams had been appointed by Google as one of the first developers to make apps and experiences for Daydream, Google's platform for high-performance mobile VR, with two launch titles currently in development.

Mercia has invested a total of £3.75 million to date, led by Mercia's Investment Director and former SEGA CEO for Europe and the Americas, Mike Hayes. The Company's first involvement with nDreams was in 2013 and various funding rounds have brought its direct shareholding to 40%.

Dr. Mark Payton, CEO of Mercia said:

"nDreams continues to make significant progress in its ambition to lead the way in virtual reality content and experiences with the launch of The Assembly. We are delighted that this launch has gone well and are excited to continue to support nDreams as it achieves its full potential.

Our strategy is to provide both funding and support through our experienced Digital & Digital entertainment investment team. We have worked with nDreams in this way since 2013, helping it to build its virtual reality capabilities, and believe that this approach will ensure our all of our direct investments, including nDreams, continue to flourish and deliver increasing value for our shareholders."

CEO and founder of nDreams, Patrick O'Luanaigh, commented:

"The launch of The Assembly is the culmination of more than two years' hard work and it's great to see our efforts bearing fruit. We've been overwhelmed by the reactions, describing The Assembly as potentially the 'breakthrough game' for virtual reality, and we intend to keep building our position at the forefront of the virtual reality industry with the PlayStation launch later this year, as well as our other current development projects, such as for Google."

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About Mercia Technologies PLC

Mercia is a national investment group focused on the creation, funding and scaling of innovative businesses with high growth potential from the UK regions. Mercia employs 60 people across six offices and it has one of the largest university networks in the UK with 18 university partnerships across the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland. These partnerships provide access to high quality, regional deal flow which accounts for approximately one third of Mercia's investments.

Mercia's 'Complete Capital Solution' enable it to scale businesses via its third party funds (with more than £220.0million under management) and then over time Mercia identifies its 'Emerging Stars' which it can provide further capital to using its own balance sheet.

Mercia focuses on sourcing and scaling businesses across four sectors: Digital & Digital Entertainment; Life Sciences and Bio-sciences; Software & the Internet and; Electronics, Materials & Manufacturing/Engineering. 

In a recent report (Source: Beauhurst, The Deal, 2015/16), Mercia was found to be the fifth most active investor in the UK and the fourth most active in technology.  Since its IPO in December 2014, the Company continues to seek early stage third party investment opportunities and it has directly invested over £24.0million across its portfolio of Emerging Stars. In addition to providing its direct investments with the required capital, Mercia also supports the management teams to build towards exits that will realise incremental value for Mercia shareholders over the medium term.

About nDreams

nDreams was formed in 2006 by former Codemasters and Eidos Creative Director, Patrick O'Luanaigh (Tomb Raider: Legend, Hitman: Blood Money, Conflict: Desert Storm, Micro Machines V3) with a focus on virtual worlds. Since 2013, the company has exclusively dedicated its talents to developing innovative and remarkable virtual reality games and experiences. The studio has already published a number of VR titles - including SkyDIEving, Gunner, Perfect Beach and now The Assembly. The studio continues to develop multiple unannounced projects, including two launch titles for Daydream, Google's platform for high-performance mobile VR. In 2015, nDreams completed two investment rounds totaling £3.75 million with Mercia Technologies PLC, which focuses on providing investment and support to innovative technology companies.