News

A company producing tools to monitor and manage gas pressure within gas distribution networks (GDNs) is the latest to receive funding from the Enterprise M3 (EM3) Growth Fund.

Utonomy has been working with two of the UKs four GDN operating companies to develop a fit for purpose “Smart Grid” solution as there is currently no effective system available on the market. The company has created its Active Grid Management solution, comprising relevant hardware (actuators and sensors), installed throughout the gas network, with a cloud-based software platform using self-learning algorithms to continually optimise the network remotely.

CEO Adam Kingdon, who established the company in 2015 after being approached with an opportunity to apply his experience in water pressure management to the gas distribution industry, outlines the problem: “The demand for gas is influenced by time of day/week/year, weather conditions etc.; at its highest, demand can be up to 100 x greater than at its lowest. This means GDNs are managing an ever present conflict between a) ensuring gas pressure does not go below the minimum requirement at any given time and b) too much pressure resulting in system leaks, which is not only costly, but also has environmental implications – an area monitored by Ofgem. GDNs have found existing systems for managing pressure to be inadequate, resorting to labour intensive manual adjustments. A costly process, these adjustments take place only a handful of times throughout the year resulting in gas pressures being set to the incorrect level 99% of the time.”

Utonomy’s offering is unique on several levels: its actuator is able to operate in dangerous substance environments; its intelligent software will interpret the statistical relationship between weather temperatures, calendar fluctuations etc. and changes in pressure to generate accurate predictions for high and low pressure points; its hardware can monitor the ongoing condition of the network resulting in faster detection of mains breaks along with easier maintenance planning.

The £150,000 EM3 Growth Fund investment is part of a larger funding round that will see the company establish its international sales and marketing base in Basingstoke. The funding will help the business to further commercialise its offering and gain traction throughout Europe and in North America.

Ralph Singleton, Fund Manager at The FSE Group, which manages the EM3 Growth Fund on behalf of the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), comments: “Utonomy is responding to a clear market demand for a solution to real problems facing the gas distribution industry globally. The company’s strong technological background and extensive industry knowledge and contacts has allowed it to work directly with end clients to develop an innovative product that will fully meet their needs, offer a good ROI and help them deliver against environmental targets. We are pleased to be supporting them on this exciting journey to achieve their full potential.”

Geoff French, CBE, Chair of Enterprise M3 LEP adds: “Enterprise M3 LEP area is home to a vibrant Sci-Tech corridor and this is due to a conscious collaborative effort creating the conditions for innovation to thrive. We are pleased that Utonomy now has the financial resource to expand, increase productivity, create more jobs and be part of our ecosystem of technological excellence.”

The Enterprise M3 Growth Fund is part of the Enterprise M3 Funding Escalator, a £5.5million initiative funded by Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership. The escalator, which also includes an expansion loan scheme, provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £50,000 and £200,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities.

Following its investment from the Bedford Business EIS Fund last year, corporate travel platform Tripism has now successfully secured funding from the Coast to Capital Growth Equity Fund, as part of a new funding round. Since its last round, which also included several angel investors,

Tripism has made significant progress with product development and expanded its relationship with Microsoft global travel. Tripism enables employees to use the travel experiences and know-how of colleagues to inform their own business travel decisions and to discover the benefits offered by corporate travel suppliers. Following the successful pilot and development phase with around 600 Microsoft users, the Tripism platform will now be rolled out to all Microsoft staff and will replace some of the company’s former travel tools.

Tripism founder and CEO, Adam Kerr, comments: “We are delighted with the progress of our work with Microsoft: Tripism offers user generated content for 97 cities across 33 countries, giving information about many aspects of corporate travel from flights, transfers and hotels through to restaurants, parks and running routes. This relationship has provided a great opportunity to develop and refine our offering and we are now looking forward to engaging further corporate clients.”

Tripism is in discussions with a number of large corporations who are looking for a clear understanding of the quality of service they are getting from their travel providers and a significantly better tool for their travellers. The latest £100,000 investment from Coast to Capital Growth Equity Fund is part of a further funding round that includes support from existing investors, and will see the company establish a base in Croydon to support the company’s marketing activity.

Avent Bezuidenhoudt, Senior Fund Manager at The FSE Group which manages both the Bedford Business EIS Fund and the Coast to Capital Growth Equity Fund, remarks: “the Tripism team is making great progress with this innovative travel app and is positioning the company well for a larger funding round later this year. We are delighted to continue working with them to realise their growth ambitions.”

The Coast to Capital Growth Equity Fund is part of the Coast to Capital Funding Escalator, a £5million initiative funded by Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership. The escalator, which also includes an expansion loan scheme, provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £50,000 and £200,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities.

A company offering an innovative cyber security solution for small-scale networks is looking to expand with the help of an investment from the Enterprise M3 Growth Fund. The £150,000 investment is part of a larger funding round that will see RazorSecure establish itself within the transport sector, targeting in-travel infotainment systems within aeroplanes, cars and trains.

The software’s small footprint means it is suitable for small systems without it affecting the operation of the underlying device, making it perfect for in-flight entertainment that is unconnected to a large network. Furthermore, it is unique in the fact that it can detect a hack and close down the relevant system in under a minute, leaving a hacker no time to search for valuable data.

Alex Cowan, CEO and CTO at Razorsecure says: “with hacks becoming more sophisticated, and systems more interconnected, it may be possible for a hacker to access a plane’s controls via vulnerabilities in the entertainment system, or a ship’s navigation system via the GPS signal. With driverless cars on the horizon, this particular threat will also affect the automotive industry. Our protected IP is ground-breaking in the speed at which it can identify a threat and take action to stop it, increasing the overall security of transport networks.”

Following an introduction from SETsquared, and help from the EM3 Growth Hub the funding round was originated by The FSE Group, which manages the Enterprise M3 Growth Fund on behalf of Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership and led by Breed Reply, the Internet of Things investor and advanced incubator. Ralph Singleton, fund manager at The FSE Group comments: “We are delighted to have facilitated this deal that sees RazorSecure acquire the funding needed to take it to its next stage of growth. The company founders have identified a gap in the IT security market that they have been able to fill with their innovative IP. We look forward to working with Alex and the team to ensure that the company takes advantage of the opportunities available to truly reach its potential.”

The Enterprise M3 Growth Fund is part of the Enterprise M3 Funding Escalator, a £5.5million initiative funded by Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership. The escalator, which also includes an expansion loan fund, provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £50,000 and £200,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities.. For more information about RazorSecure visit www.razorsecure.com.

Berkshire based software company Vigilant Applications has successfully completed its latest investment round, providing the necessary capital to fund further expansion of sales and operations resources in support of the company’s growth trajectory. The funding was led by The FSE Group with a combination of equity from the Thames Valley Berkshire Growth Fund, a group of business angels from the FSE Investor Network and others.

Vigilant Applications is a leading provider of software solutions that help organisations meet their IT Governance, Risk and Compliance obligations, mitigate exposure to risks arising from accidental or malicious actions of employees and identify fraudulent activity of various types. The company currently operates across a range of sectors - most notably Police, Healthcare and Financial Services. Its technology is also applied to Retail for identifying unusual or potentially fraudulent staff behaviour at point-of-sale terminals.

Andy Craig, Director at Vigilant Applications, “The potential market for our products is huge. With increasingly stringent Governance, Risk and Compliance obligations being placed on organisations in both the public and private sectors, demand for solutions that can help ensure standards are met without unduly impeding normal workflow continues to grow - and this is exactly where we sit. In Retail our products are geared towards the elimination of preventable loss and, in turn, protecting retailers’ operating margins. Since providing some initial debt funding, FSE have been very supportive and encouraging of our business. It’s refreshing to work with a funding partner that understands the challenges facing businesses going through significant but, at times, hard to predict growth.”

Bradley Jones, Fund Manager at the FSE Group, “We have known and worked with Vigilant Applications for a number of years. The company received initial debt support from us in 2013 and have since gone on to  increase their sector reach significantly, with a growing client base that includes a number of high profile organisations . This coupled with the company’s expanding partner base, makes us believe that this is the perfect opportunity for an equity investment. We wish the company all the best, and look forward to working with them in the future”.

About Vigilant Apps: Vigilant Applications Limited is a specialist provider of User Behaviour Management solutions. Its products detect and prevent unintentional, malicious or fraudulent activity, ensure business process integrity and secure regulatory, legislative and internal policy compliance - all proven by an irrefutable audit trail. Contact: mike.williams@vigilantapps.com

A company making waves in driverless car technology is setting its sights on global success with the help of an investment from the Enterprise M3 Growth Fund. Bedford born company, iAbra, are expanding in a move that will see Guildford become their sales and marketing base, creating a number of new jobs in the process.

The iAbra technology uses deep learning algorithms that enable computers to learn in a human like way. When applied to Machine Vision (MV), machines can process images from internal cameras and sensors to ‘see’ and interpret the world around them. For driverless car technology this means identifying objects in the traffic environment and responding appropriately e.g. the car ‘learns’ that a pedestrian at a zebra crossing means the car must stop. Already working with some of the industry’s key players in the automotive industry,

iAbra’s Machine Vision (MV) technology is fast gaining traction as a platform to be reckoned with in this field. Ian Taylor, iAbra CEO and co-founder, says: “Over the past year we have spent time really focusing on the application of our technology. Although there are a number of target markets, including surveillance and defence, the automotive industry is an exciting place to be right now with the race to driverless cars in full throttle. We have established strong relationships with some global companies who are equally excited by how our technology can help them be at the front of this race.”

This latest funding round, which will include further funding from the Bedford EIS Fund and angel investors, will facilitate the rapid expansion which the business is currently facing. The investment will be used to grow the infrastructure and increase headcount in both Bedford and Guildford.

Avent Bezuidenhoudt, Senior Fund Manager at The FSE Group which manages the Enterprise M3 Growth Fund and the Bedford Business EIS Fund, comments: “The FSE Group has been working with iAbra over the last 18 months following our first investment and we are delighted to be investing again in this latest funding round. By positioning themselves in the driverless car market they have found a niche with extremely high growth potential and we look forward to helping them maximise this with our continued support.”

The Enterprise M3 Growth Fund is part of the Enterprise M3 Funding Escalator, a £5.5million initiative funded by Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership. The escalator, which also includes an expansion loan scheme, provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £50,000 and £200,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities. The Bedford Business EIS Fund was developed as a practical initiative for sustainable job creation in Bedford. This latest round of finance for iAbra leaves the fund fully invested.