US investors inject £14m into Manchester Uni spin-off

A Manchester University spin-off company has raised £14m ($24.5m) through Silicon Valley investors after developing technology that allows computer applications to run on any operating system.

Transitive, which is rumoured to have been involved with Apple's decision last week to use Intel chips instead of IBM's, has developed QuickTransit - an application that allows programs to work on any computer platform without the time-consuming task of changing source code and binary digits.

CTO and founder of Transitive Alasdair Rawsthorne, who is still a lecturer at the university, told silicon.com: "We would like to get the technology incorporated as a standard part of systems so more computers can run more applications.

"My personal dream is to have our technology spread over desktops, servers, mobile phones - the whole range. The university has been very proactive in supporting [us] so I'm keen to make sure it gets the recognition for the decision to help us start up in the first place."

The most recent contribution to the fund was from Accel Venture - a prominent venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, where Transitive has a small office. Investor firms Crescendo and Pond Venture Partners have also contributed to the fund.