Rand Capital Announces 12% Growth of Net Asset Value for the Quarter Ending December 31, 2013 and Invests in Six Businesses

BUFFALO, NY--(Marketwired - Feb 25, 2014) - Rand Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: RAND)

• Net Asset Value increases 12% during the quarter ending December 31, 2013 to $4.38 per share
• Liazon Corporation is sold to Towers Watson for $215 million generating a $6 million realized gain for Rand in November 2013
• Total assets increases to $39 million, including $9 million in cash ($1.52 per share)
• Invests $2.2 million into six portfolio businesses during the quarter
• Rand repurchased 13,000 shares of its stock returning over $1 million to investors via the repurchase program

Rand Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: RAND) ("Rand"), a business development company (BDC) that provides capital for small to medium-sized private companies, announced its operating results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2013 with a net asset value of $4.38 per share, an increase of 12%, as compared to $3.90 per share in the prior quarter and at December 31, 2012.

The increase in net asset value per share was primarily attributable to Liazon Corporation (Buffalo, NY) (www.liazon.com), a provider of private exchange online benefit marketplace solutions, which was acquired by Towers Watson in November 2013 for a reported $215 million. Rand's initial investment in Liazon was made in 2010, and its $1.1 million investment generated a $6.25 million realized gain.

Daniel P. Penberthy, Rand's Chief Financial Officer, stated, "The impact of the Liazon transaction is significant, providing immediate growth in net asset value, to $4.38 per share, increasing total assets to $39.9 million, and resulting in a strong year-end cash balance of $9.8 million. Rand's liquidity (cash) is $1.52 per share."

Fourth quarter 2013 investments included $250,000 in one new company:

• KnowledgeVision Systems, Inc. (Lincoln, MA) (www.knowledgevision.com) - Equity investment of $250,000. The KnowledgeVision® System provides businesses with a cost-effective, scalable way to turn presentations and web content into an interactive online video experience -- capturing an engaging, multi-sensory story once and then publishing it for on-demand delivery, using portable tools that can be run from any computer, anywhere in the world.

Rand also invested $1,991,000 in follow-on investments during the quarter: