UserReplay has been providing innovative software solutions for e-commerce since 2009 and is continuing its journey to growth with further support from Thames Valley Berkshire (TVB) Funding Escalator. The Theale based company provides large businesses that have a strong online sales presence, with a tool to analyse user movement throughout their websites, helping to identify the cause of abandoned baskets and subsequent lost revenues. As ecommerce continues to expand, there is an increased focus on making sure online interactions are efficient and productive. As such, the global market for Application Performance Management software is growing significantly and this rise is set to continue over the next few years. The FSE Group, which manages TVB Funding Escalator on behalf of Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), has been working with UserReplay since 2013, making equity investments from both South East Seed Fund and TVB Growth Fund. During this time the company has continued to expand, including establishing a base in the US where it is making significant sales. The FSE Group is now providing debt finance of £200,000 from TVB Expansion Loan Scheme to accelerate marketing activity, along with further technology development, to take full advantage of the market opportunity. Ruth Peters, UserReplay CEO, comments: “The support we have received from The FSE Group has been vital to the growth of our business; since the initial FSE investment we have refined and improved our product offering so it meets the needs of our clients and this latest loan will ensure we continue to do this in line with ever-evolving ecommerce market.” Ian Baker, Senior Fund Manager at The FSE Group, adds: “With client renewal rates at over 92%, UserReplay are clearly providing a competitive and sought-after product. The opportunities are significant and we are delighted to again be working with this experienced and impressive team to help them achieve their growth potential.” The Thames Valley Berkshire Funding Escalator is a £8.3m initiative funded by the Thames Valley Berkshire LEP. The escalator includes an Expansion Loan Scheme, Trade Finance Loan Scheme and a Growth Equity Fund, which provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £25,000 and £250,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities.
A West Sussex food firm looking to gain a bigger slice of the pastry market with its award-winning pies has secured £125,000 from the Coast to Capital (C2C) Expansion Loan Scheme to scale-up production and expand into the wholesale market.
Midhurst based Mud Foods has been producing top quality pies, made from locally sourced ingredients, for almost a decade. The business has grown steadily during that time with the majority of sales coming from regular attendance at local farmers’ markets across the South East, supplemented with some wholesale trade.
Both avenues now offer expansion opportunities, as Mud owner, Christian Barrington, explains: “At the moment we produce around 5,000-6,000 Mud pies and sausage rolls each week, which allows us to attend a number of regular weekend markets and fulfil some wholesale orders. Sales have grown steadily year on year and we know there is potential to build this further but our current production facilities are at full capacity. With this latest funding we will be able to increase capacity and more actively target the wholesale market.”
The £125,000 will be used to rearrange the existing unit and install additional cooking/freezing equipment, increasing production to around 15,000 pastry items per week. This will also enable the company to diversify its offering by adding sweet pies to the Mud Foods range. Jeff Dober, Head of SME Debt Funds at The FSE Group, which manages the C2C Expansion Loan Scheme on behalf of C2C Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), comments: “Annual UK pie and pastry sales are at almost £1billion and by using only real butter in the pastry, meat from The Goodwood Estate and vegetables from other local farms, Mud Foods has gained a loyal following and carved itself a niche at the premium end of the market. The management team has now identified a significant growth prospect and we are delighted to support them in achieving the increase in production capacity necessary to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead.”
The Coast to Capital Expansion Loan Scheme is part of the Coast to Capital Funding Escalator, a £5million initiative funded by Coast to Capital LEP. The escalator, which also includes a growth equity fund, provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £50,000 and £500,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities across the Coast to Capital region.
A Cambridge based company providing leading digital services for medium and large companies is looking to continue its expansion with the latest in a series of Regional Growth Loans from Finance East.
Intergence is an independent IT business offering tailor made services to optimise and secure the complex IT infrastructures of large, often international, organisations. The company’s extensive blue-chip client base has exacting demands and Intergence helps them deliver a seamless service to their customers via solutions that are both cost and energy efficient. Finance East has been working with the Intergence team since 2011 to help ensure the business remains in a position where it can take advantage of the opportunities available.
Intergence Chief Executive, Peter Job, explains: “Large contracts and a protracted negotiation process, as well as a continuing need for investment to keep our offering relevant, means our funding needs cannot always be met by traditional lines of credit. In Finance East we have found a funder that looks ahead with us and provides support at times crucial to our overall development as a business. Whether funding marketing activity to aid expansion, recruitment costs to support delivery of a new contract, or development of a new product to keep us at the forefront of our field, Finance East has been there to finance our expansion.”
The latest loan of £80,000 from the Regional Growth Loan Scheme (RGLS) is the fifth received by Intergence and will be used to recruit new employees to meet the requirements of two major new contract wins. This is following the successful development and trial of the new ‘Stratiam’ software which converts data from all a business’s networks into a set of visual graphics that can be viewed on one screen. The product enables the user to quickly identify any issues and take necessary action to avoid potential problems, especially useful where a central IT department needs a clear view of an entire IT infrastructure across multi-sites and multi-networks.
Stuart Ager, Finance East Senior Fund Manager, comments: “Intergence is just the sort of business the RGLS is here to support; one with a compelling product, strong track record and ambitions for growth. The management team has continued to stay ahead of market changes and keep providing a service that is attractive to its customer base, as demonstrated by its high tender success rate. We look forward to continuing to support Peter and the team through the next phase of development.”
The RGLS is managed by Finance East, part of The FSE Group, on behalf of Local Enterprise Partnerships in the East of England and British Business Bank. The RGLS is available to established, incorporated businesses based within the East of England that have a minimum annual turnover of £100k, show strong growth potential and have a medium to long-term funding requirement to deliver that growth.
TOWER Cold Chain Solutions announces major new funding to support rental fleet development.
TOWER Cold Chain Solutions, the Reading, UK-based provider of temperature-controlled containers to the pharmaceutical industry, announces the completion of a £3m funding initiative designed to support the development of new stock, new sales support and new hubs. TOWER rents its range of KryoTrans (KT) containers from hubs in Europe, the US and across SE Asia and has seen rapid growth for its KTM range of modular containers, offering flexible, powerful temperature control for palletised loads.
Chris Pollard, CEO of TOWER, comments “2017 was a year of significant achievement for TOWER, on the one hand generating important new customers for the KTM and developing our global hub network, and on the other attracting strategic investment that backs the management team’s vision”. Just Arne Storvik, a long-term shareholder in TOWER who has arranged and supported the funding round, said “Those of us who have been involved in TOWER have never doubted the ultimate potential for the company, but it has been the successful introduction of the KTM that has opened up the market for TOWER and made it possible to generate the kind of financial support that will be necessary to meet and maintain support for the rapidly-growing demand”.
Tor Erland Fyksen, a significant investor in this funding round notes that “TOWER is well positioned in the temperature-controlled transportation market with thoroughly tested products and services, which are environmentally friendly, and which can be uniquely scaled and adapted to meet most specific requirements whether at the start, middle or the end of the journey, adding to our competitive offering”.
Julie Silvester, Head of Equity Funds for the FSE Group, which manages the TVB Growth Fund on behalf of Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) said “We are delighted to show our continued support to Chris and the TOWER team. The company has grown significantly since our initial investment back in 2016 and it is great to see the success of the new facilities in China, Singapore and the United States. We look forward to working closely with TOWER to further assist them in achieving their full growth potential.”.
About TOWER Cold Chain Solutions: TOWER Cold Chain Solutions’ range of passive KryoTrans thermal containers provides a solution to reduce the total cost of shipping. KryoTrans containers are not only flexible but extremely robust and are based on a passive system that effectively eliminates any risk of human error once conditioned. TOWER provides a developing global infrastructure, with hubs creating a flexible service across Europe, the US and the Asia-Pacific region.
A company aiding production of green energy in the commercial environment has successfully secured a £200,000 East of England Regional Development Loan to take advantage of growth opportunities in the market.
Cambridge based Arriba Technologies has been designing and building algorithm driven heat pumps for the commercial refrigeration market since 2003. Over the last two years the company has broadened its focus to encompass wider commercial energy integration and has developed its innovative Volt-Hub: an electronic, software controlled power drive box capable of moving electricity around an internal grid more efficiently than any other system on the market.
Arriba’s integrated offering connects the energy generated by solar panels and batteries to its unique hub and converts it without the standard 20% power loss experienced with traditional systems, meaning that more renewable energy can be put to use across a range of outputs.
Steve Connolly, Arriba founder and CEO, explains: “Our technology provides lower carbon and lower cost energy that can be used in a number of ways from commercial refrigeration to electric vehicle chargers. A big area for us is the drive towards zero-carbon buildings; by linking our Volt-Hub to the internal wiring system of a building, we can deliver sustainable energy for use within that building. Examples of this can be seen at installations in Cambridge and Chelmsford where our systems use energy generated within each building to provide cooling, heating, lighting and water pumping services. Carbon savings in excess of 70% can be attained and in the event of an external power failure, the stored power could maintain these services for up to 24 hours.”
With an increasing focus on the sustainability of commercial buildings, there is significant demand for an integrated product that can bring such significant carbon reductions. The company is already operating in the NHS, office buildings, supermarket and food manufacturing sectors and has received interest from a number of major UK and overseas buyers. In view of this strong and growing pipeline, the regional development loan will assist the recruitment of key employees to convert sales and meet operational demand as well as extend market traction and support ongoing product development.
Francis Kenealy, Fund Manager at Finance East which manages the Regional Growth Loan Scheme, comments: “Steve’s technical expertise and commitment to innovation has paid off with the Volt-Hub, which was developed in response to a clear gap in the existing technology. As a producer of the only system of this kind, now commercially proven to deliver both lower energy costs and a significantly reduced carbon footprint, Arriba is on the cusp of exponential growth and we are delighted to be working with them to achieve their growth potential.”
The Regional Growth Loan Scheme (RGLS) is managed by Finance East, part of The FSE Group, on behalf of Local Enterprise Partnerships in the East of England and British Business Bank. The RGLS is available to established, incorporated businesses based within the East of England that have a minimum annual turnover of £100k, show strong growth potential and have a medium to long-term funding requirement to deliver that growth.