Evolve Dynamics, a Surrey-based drone company which produces mission specific UAV / RPAS (drones) hardware and software solutions for the emergency services, law enforcement and defence sectors, has secured its first significant round of institutional funding which it will use to further product development, R&D and company expansion.

The funding round was led by the Cass Entrepreneurship Fund, alongside The FSE Group and an angel investor.

The funds will be used to continue to develop the current and new products in dialogue with the market and customers. Evolve Dynamics’ core product, the Sky Mantis drone, offers customers an industry leading flight time, higher wind resistance than competitors, dual camera payload and extreme weather capability. The company will continue to undertake extensive R&D to maintain the product’s superior performance and ability to retail at highly competitive price points.

In response to strong and rapidly increasing market demand, with inbound orders accelerating, further planned hires will strengthen the operations and engineering functions in order to successfully scale the company and enter new markets where its products offer a strong value proposition, such as the energy sector.

CEO and founder of Evolve Dynamics, Michael Dewhirst, said: “The funding will help us invest into R&D and hardware, as well as new hires and larger premises to scale in response to market demand. We are excited to be backed by the Cass Entrepreneurship Fund, FSE and the angel investor, which will help us respond to the opportunities in front of us.”

Founded in 2016, Evolve Dynamics was formed to address the growing need for drone solutions among emergency services and rapid response forces. Prior to the Sky Mantis, budget constraints meant that police forces tended to purchase consumer drones which weren’t up to the standards required of their use cases: inspections, rescue operations, and searches. In its first three years, the Evolve Dynamics team formed relationships with their eventual customers and undertook extensive discovery research and development. This research fed into the design specifications that make the Sky Mantis drone useful and accessible to police forces, whilst meeting various requirements for flight time, durability, portability and price.

Beyond its domestic market, Evolve Dynamics is well placed to scale geographically and capitalise on the significant growth of the global drone market across the commercial, military and civil government sectors. Alongside a concentration on servicing its core market, the company intends to continue R&D and product development in order to ensure that its drone solutions offer versatility across use cases and sectors.

The Investment Director of the Cass Entrepreneurship Fund, Helen Reynolds, said: “We are delighted to support the Evolve Dynamics team, who have demonstrated the value proposition of their product to their target market with strong growth to date. We’re very pleased to be helping them scale and expand into new markets. The company has an impressive number of orders already for the next few months and customer satisfaction with the drone’s performance in a range of scenarios has been excellent.”

Senior Fund Manager of The FSE Group, Paul Lyristis, added: “We are delighted to add Evolve Dynamics to our portfolio of companies supported by the Enterprise M3 Growth Fund. Evolve, a Guildford-based company is the UK’s leading manufacturer and supplier of drones and ancillary equipment to this country’s emergency services and we are proud to have invested in a company whose drones have been used to save lives. Michael Dewhirst has put together a highly experienced team and they have all the attributes to build Evolve into a world-class business. We wish them all the best for the future”

The designer of the world’s first interactive 360 degree chair, Roto VR, has today raised £1.5 million. Pembroke Investment Managers LLC is the lead investor. The TVB Growth Fund, managed by The FSE Group also invested in the round. SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP acted as financial advisor to Roto VR on the fund raising. The advanced technology cleverly overcomes the stumbling blocks typically encountered when bringing virtual reality (VR to a mass audience.

Founded in 2015, by video games industry veterans, Elliott Myers and Gavin Waxkirsh, Roto VR solves many of the current problems associated with using VR.

Roto is a highly advanced interactive chair that addresses the physical problems of consuming VR whilst seated, such as motion sickness and tangling cables, whilst also massively enhancing the immersive experience with haptic feedback (vibration effects).

Roto is also motorised and can auto-rotate to wherever the user is looking, allowing for effortless 360 viewing and exploration, thus users can experience the full panorama in comfort and for longer periods of time. Roto’s inbuilt desktop supports input devices such as a keyboard and mouse which opens the door to productive 360-degree desktop computing.

“Most people sit down to watch movies, work, play games and browse the internet whilst seated and we see no reason why the exciting new medium of VR will be any different”. Elliott Myers

The innovative product is compatible with most VR Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) and is also compatible with all movies and games, as well as a host of additional accessories such as racing wheels and joysticks.

The company is due to launch the consumer and office version of Roto imminently which provides a low-cost platform to ‘buy-in’ to the VR and Augmented Reality (AR) landscape. In addition, the team has identified a number of market opportunities across a select range of industries in the out of home sectors, such as cinemas and arcades, and has begun developing a range of products to accommodate them.

The global augmented reality and virtual reality market is expected to reach $94.4bn in value by 2023 according P&S Market Research.

Andrew Wolfson, CEO Pembroke Investment Managers LLC, explains why they invested: “In Elliott we have found an entrepreneur who has solved a problem for the VR market with a solution that addresses the physical issues encountered whilst consuming VR content, as well as significantly enhancing the experience. We see future customers coming from both the B2B and B2C markets, in fields such as experiential attractions, home, cinemas and shopping centres. The company has employed a high calibre of people, and we believe that the business is well placed to take advantage of this fast-growing market.”

Kiko Duffy, Senior Fund Manager at The FSE Group, who manage the Thames Valley Berkshire Growth Fund on behalf of the Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, commented, “We are delighted to be backing Elliott and his team. The company’s products are a key part of bringing VR into the home and workplace and are a great example of British innovation with global potential”.

TVB Growth Fund is part of Thames Valley Berkshire Funding Escalator, an £11.3m initiative funded by Thames Valley Berkshire LEP to support job creation and economic prosperity in Berkshire. The escalator, which also includes four separate loan schemes, provides eligible companies – from start-up to established – with loans and equity funding between £50,000 and £300,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities.

A company that has developed an InsurTech platform that allows young people to obtain car insurance, has secured £105,000 from the Thames Valley Berkshire Expansion Loan Scheme.

MyFirstUK, based in Bracknell, was established by James Noble, who, after going through the painstaking procedure of trying to insure his first car, found there wasn’t a company that specifically catered for young adults. As a result of this growing issue, MyFirstUK was set up in 2013. The platform allows users to secure better prices for their car insurance. MyFirstUK, want to make car insurance with the right level of cover and protection more affordable and accessible for young drivers, throughout the UK.

James Noble, Managing Director of MyFirstUK, commented, “MyFirstUK is changing the way young people get car insurance. By offering a fair insurance service for young drivers it enables them to get a more reasonably priced insurance quote, the right type of cover and protection needed. We are delighted with the feedback from our customers and the results that we are already achieving - 78% of users are renewing their car insurance with the same provider through our platform. This funding will allow us to ramp up our expansion strategy with marketing campaigns being our first focus point.”

Ian Baker, Senior Fund Manager at the FSE Group which manages the TVB Expansion Loan Scheme on behalf of Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), says, “We were immediately impressed by MyFirstUK’s customer loyalty, the strength of their partnerships and the driven management team. They have created an effective service model that benefits one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK. We look forward to working with James and his team and wish them all the success for the future.”

TVB Expansion Loan Scheme is part of TVB Funding Escalator, an £11.3m initiative funded by Thames Valley Berkshire LEP. The escalator, which also includes a Trade Finance Loan Scheme and a Growth Equity Fund, provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £50,000 and £300,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities.

A business leading the way in supporting providers of financial services with their digital transformation by simplifying the process of understanding the financial DNA of small businesses, has secured a £1million loan from the Greater London Investment Fund (GLIF).

Validis has created Software as a Service technology, ‘Datashare’, which connects to existing accounting platforms used by small businesses. This enables banks and accountants to automate the reporting and analysis of business financials, allowing them to improve the quality and speed of audits and intelligence of lending decisions for small business customers. 

Validis has already achieved considerable growth and the £1million GLIF loan will be used to support an increase in headcount as well as further product development.  The management team, led by Non-Executive Chairman, Don Robert, have considerable experience of the data market having all previously worked together at Experian.

Joel Curry, CEO of Validis, says: “We talked to a number of venture debt providers but we chose GLIF because they offered straightforward and transparent terms which were the best fit for our business. As we continue to develop our business it is comforting to know that we are working with a patient debt provider who will work with us and support us with our growth ambition. The whole process ran very smoothly and we are grateful for the support provided.”

With four of the ‘Big 5’ high street banks and all of the ‘Big 4’ accountancy firms already signed-up, Validis is primed for a period of substantial growth which will be supported by the 12 new staff members it is set to take on, thanks to the GLIF loan.

David Booth, Senior Fund Manager at The FSE Group, which manages GLIF Debt Fund on behalf of Funding London, comments: “We were hugely impressed by the Validis management team and the considerable commercial traction they have been able to demonstrate to date. The opportunity for growth in their chosen markets remains high and we are pleased to have been able to support their growth ambition.”

Maggie Rodriguez-Piza, CEO at Funding London, adds: "We are delighted to welcome Validis to the 'Greater London Investment Fund'. In these times of uncertainty, we are delighted Validis is providing a service beneficial to the ecosystem during these challenging times."

GLIF is a £100m initiative to help address the SME finance gap in Greater London, promoting economic growth through enterprise and an inclusive and sustainable economy. £55m of debt funding is available, via loans between £100,000 and £1m, to early-stage and established SMEs looking to scale-up and realise their growth ambitions. GLIF is financed through the European Investment Bank (EIB), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), London Waste & recycling Board (LWARB) and Funding London’s Legacies.    

An AI enabled SaaS platform that empowers brands to discover authentic consumer stories, manage the digital rights to that content and to distribute the most impactful media to marketing channels and e-commerce has successfully secured a £750,000 expansion loan from the Greater London Investment Fund (GLIF).

Miappi launched their platform in 2013, in response to the founders drive to enhance content marketing for businesses. The platform uses machine learning and AI technologies to collect and curate brand owned, and user generated content from feeds including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Slack. Miappi’s software helps boost the digital marketing traction of companies and their unique platform is now used by 20 Unilever brands in more than 25 countries and other major brands such as Camper, Heineken & M&S.

Andrew Foyle, CEO at Miappi, said, “Getting this backing from GLIF is not only going to support us as we look to expand and grow the business internationally from our London base but it’s also a great endorsement and validation of the progress we’ve made to date. It is bound to help us when we talk to new clients and partners as they can see we have been strongly backed to drive the business forward.”

David Booth, Senior Fund Manager at The FSE Group, commented: “We are delighted to support the growth and development of Miappi in London. We were impressed by the strength of the management team and the growing commercial traction that their platform has been able to demonstrate in 2019. We look forward to supporting their on-going development and wish them all the success for the future.”

Maggie Rodriquez-Piza, CEO at Funding London, added, “I am delighted Miappi has received investment from both our London Co-Investment Fund (LCIF) and now the GLIF. This is a testament to the excellent team and business being built at Miappi and we are delighted to support them on their international expansion journey.”

GLIF is a £100m initiative to help address the SME finance gap in Greater London, promoting economic growth through enterprise and an inclusive and sustainable economy. £55m of debt funding is available, via loans between £100,000 and £1m, to early-stage and established SMEs looking to scale-up and realise their growth ambitions. GLIF is financed through the European Investment Bank (EIB), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), London Waste & recycling Board (LWARB) and Funding London’s Legacies.

A company that specialises in the supply, installation and maintenance of energy and grease management systems is the latest company to be supported by the Thames Valley Berkshire Expansion Loan Scheme. Quintex Systems provide innovative solutions designed to enable energy users to meet their environmental targets, improve profitability and add value.

Keith Stevens, Managing Director at Quintex Systems, said, “We are world leaders in smart technology for commercial kitchens, focused to drive energy and operating costs down, across hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and commercial catering operators. We also very proud to offer a UK manufactured service with everything done in house from design to installation and ongoing monitoring and maintenance. We operate from our base in Finchampstead, Berkshire and have clients across the UK, throughout Europe and the Middle East. This funding comes at an exciting time for the development of Quintex and our products, as we look to rollout our services to South East Asia, Australia and the United States.”

The £300,000 Loan will be used to fund the sales and marketing expansion of the Quintex team, with the creation of two new sales associate positions. The funding has also enabled the company to focus on their brand image – with a new website developed, that went live earlier this year.

Cheryl Weeks, Fund Manager at The FSE Group which manages the TVB Expansion Loan Scheme on behalf of Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), comments, “We are delighted to be supporting Quintex in this next phase of their expansion and development. Keith has built up a management team that is highly skilled in the retail and food industry. The company have an impressive client base of blue- chip customers, including major supermarkets and hotel and leisure operators. We are pleased to be able to provide funding support on this exciting journey and wish Quintex all the best for the future.”

TVB Expansion Loan Scheme is part of TVB Funding Escalator, an £11.3m initiative funded by Thames Valley Berkshire LEP. The escalator, which also includes a Trade Finance Loan Scheme and a Growth Equity Fund, provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £50,000 and £300,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities.

A Padstow business specialising in wholesale dog care products is expanding into new markets with the support of a £32,000 loan from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund as part of a £97,000 package of support.

Slickers Doghouse has developed its own range of dog wear and dog pharmacy products, including branded dog slings and blankets, plus skin and coat care treatments, hygiene drops and sprays.

The business was founded by former telecoms director Lisa Hope in 2016 who saw the market potential for a range of high quality eco-friendly and where possible organic dog care products, which are mostly British-made.

The £32,000 CIOSIF loan will support the development of more own-branded Slickers products, and wholesale and online sales through website development, the purchase of a commercial embroidery machine and attendance at major trade shows, including Discover Dogs.

A further £65,000 of loan funding is being provide by SWIG Finance to help Slickers build up stock for growing wholesale and online orders.

Lisa said: “As a relatively young business without a long trading record, we’ve found it difficult to raise finance from traditional sources. But with the support of CIOSIF and SWIG Finance we have now have the backing we need to grow our own-brand range and tap into new markets.”

The deal was led by The FSE Group, with SWIG Finance managing the process as they deliver the smaller business loans part of CIOSIF. Rachel Thomson, CIOSIF Business Manager at SWIG Finance, added: “From locally sourced high-quality treats to the latest fashionable dog wear, Slickers Doghouse has everything covered for your four-legged friend. We are delighted to be supporting Lisa and the Slickers Doghouse team and look forward to seeing how this CIOSIF loan will aid the development and growth of the business.”

Lloyd Brina, Senior Manager at the British Business Bank, said: “Young businesses like Lisa’s often struggle to raise finance from conventional sources and that’s one of the reasons why CIOSIF was set up, to help break down the barriers to accessing growth finance that small businesses face.”

LEP non-executive director John Acornley, who chairs the CIOSIF Advisory Board, said: “Slickers is tapping into a dog owner market worth £10 billion a year in the UK and Lisa has already shown how premium quality, innovative products can appeal to a wide range of owners.”

Lisa received support from Rebecca Bettin at Oxford Innovation to help develop her ideas for growth into a credible business plan with sound financial forecasts.

CIOSIF is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.

A world-renowned brewing company who are on a mission to bring back the bear are the latest company to be supported by the Enterprise M3 Funding Escalator. Hofmeister has successfully completed their latest funding round, and raised a total of £720,000, which included £200,000 from the Enterprise M3 Growth Fund.

Hofmeister has a rich and fascinating history within the alcoholic drinks sector. Initially launched in 1976 by Courage, the Hofmeister brand was best known during the 1980s and 1990s. Its famous “follow the bear” Hofmeister adverts featuring George the Bear were the final directorial works of Orson Wells and remain much loved to this day.

The beer remained popular until lower alcohol lagers fell out of fashion in the nineties. Luckily for beer lovers, this is now changing with a surge in taste for premium lagers.  Relaunched in 2017 as a premium world lager, the new Hofmeister has been crafted to meet this growth in appetite for great quality lager. The relaunch of this historic beer is being expertly steered by two friends, Richard Longhurst and Spencer Chambers who bought the brand and have revamped the recipe for new-age beer drinkers. Now the beer is a genuine Helles lager brewed in Bavaria using the Reinheitsgebot or Purity Law, a traditional brewing method dating back to 1516. Beers brewed with this method only contain barley, hops, and mineral water.  Both men held senior positions at Beams, the UK’s leading branded alcohol gifting company. Ocado, the 5-star Connaught Hotel and the Ritz are just two of Hofmeister’s big name collaborations and more exciting partnerships are in the pipeline for the coming year.

Richard Longhurst, CEO at The Hofmeister Brewing Company, commented, "The past few years have been utterly phenomenal at Hofmeister and we are thrilled that The FSE Group has joined us on our journey. From winning contracts for in-house lager deals at prestigious venues to being the first ever lager to receive five stars at the International Wine & Spirits Competition, our relaunch has achieved so much already. With this funding round we will be opening up new facilities in Surrey and also expanding our talented team, so that the 2020’s carry on the momentum we have already built into the company.”

Avent Bezuidenhoudt, Senior Fund Manager at The FSE Group which manages the Enterprise M3 Growth Fund on behalf of the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership, adds, "We are delighted to add Hofmeister to our investment portfolio. The company’s high level of success in such a short space of time is incredibly encouraging and can be credited to the team’s expertise and love for their product. They went to great lengths to find the right brewing partner and found the award-winning, privately-owned family business Schweiger Brewery in Bavaria to produce Hofmeister. Choosing a brewery partnership of such calibre has resulted in a fantastic high-end and critically acclaimed product. We are excited to follow the journey of Hofmeister…by following the bear!”

The Enterprise M3 Growth Fund is part of the Enterprise M3 Funding Escalator, a £10million initiative funded by Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership. The escalator, which includes an expansion loan scheme, a trade finance loan scheme and an equity growth fund, provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £50,000 and £300,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities across the EM3 area.

Truro based, Clinical Design Technologies, a business producing a new way for healthcare professionals to carry out urine testing, is the latest to receive funding from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF).

Clinical Design has received a £750,000 CIOSIF equity investment as part of a £1.57 million fundraising round, which includes £400,000 from Sorbon Investments Ltd. The funding will support rollout of the product in the UK, alongside progression with overseas markets and will also allow the business to take on six new staff initially with further hires planned for next year.

Urine Testing System™ is an award-winning closed system for digital point-of-care urine testing for all healthcare providers including doctors’ surgeries, hospitals and care homes. As the world’s only closed system, Urine Testing System™ improves accuracy and enables semi-automatic desk-based analysis with the UTS Digital Analyser™. Urine Testing System™ has already been recognised as a significant innovation and earlier this year, it won a prestigious Red Dot Award for its intuitive design and potential to revolutionise one of the most common medical tests.

Having completed the design, development and robust testing of its system, the company is ready to move from trial stage into full-scale rollout.

Oliver Blackwell, Clinical Design Founder and CEO, said, “An estimated 100 million urine tests are carried out every year in the UK alone, many of which are still conducted with dipsticks that are colour-matched by eye. We have designed and engineered a digital solution that is easy-to-use and provides standardised results, which can be read on a desktop computer and saved to a patient’s electronic health care record.”

Mr Blackwell continues, “Securing funding at such a pivotal point can be tricky for early-stage med-tech companies like ours. We’re delighted to receive this backing which will be used to continue our UK rollout alongside entering overseas markets in Europe and preparing for expansion into the US in 2020.”

Ralph Singleton, Head of Funds, Cornwall at The FSE Group, commented: “Clinical Design has succeeded in creating a product that is not only superior to the existing solution but, crucially for the healthcare sector, is also cost neutral by comparison. This leaves them well placed to capture a significant portion of the almost 3 billion urine tests carried out globally each year and we are excited to be supporting such a dynamic team.”

John Acornley, chair of the CIOSIF Advisory Board and a non-executive director of the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), said: “Once again CIOSIF is at the forefront of supporting real technological innovation in Cornwall whilst driving high quality job creation across the region. And with manufacturing of the product and associated software currently outsourced to St Austell and Redruth sub-contractors, this is positive news for the wider local economy.”

The £40m Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund provides debt and equity finance from £25,000 to £2 million to help growing small businesses across the region. It has been established by the British Business Bank in partnership with the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP and is operated by appointed fund manager, The FSE Group.

CIOSIF is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.

For more information about the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund including how to apply, please visit www.ciosif.co.uk or follow the fund on Twitter at @CIOSIFBBB2

A real-time fraud protection company that has established cutting edge software to revolutionise the telecommunications industry by offering a unique fraud tracking and blocking solution for companies is the latest organisation to be supported by The Enterprise M3 Funding Escalator.

Farnham based, Six Degrees Labs Limited were established in 2016 and have secured a £300,000 growth loan, which will enable the company to recruit additional resources to facilitate the growing demand for their products. Six Degrees have created a sophisticated and effective, identification fraud prevention system which helps stop telecoms operators and their customers from losing money.

Six Degrees provide their clients with RVS software which prevents direct fraudulent calls and they have also developed their own software to prevent SIMBOX fraud. SIMBOX Fraud occurs when fraudsters insert SIM cards into a server which connects 30 SIMs to the network per server. Some ‘SIMBOX networks’ have 10 or 20 of these in operation that can handle 300 to 600 concurrent fraudulent calls into the local networks.

The SIMBOX software is able to monitor calls coming in and attributes a score to any potentially fraudulent numbers, once a pattern is determined the number is automatically blocked from calling. Six Degrees have also extended the system to completely prevent telecoms customers from receiving annoying and harmful ‘Wangiri’ calls, where people are left in a missed call in the hope that the person called will return the call and be charged for premium rate or expensive international calls, from which the fraudsters receive a share of those costs. Vodafone, Three, BT and nearly all operators across the world are all experiencing high volumes of these harmful Wangiri calls for which they require an effective solution to prevent.

Six Degrees Labs Limited, Managing Director, Bryan Rowe said: “Over the last few years, Six Degrees has grown from a small software company for a couple of customers into one of the most successful real-time fraud prevention technology companies internationally. Obtaining finance for growth is crucial for us to succeed and achieve our goals in the future. The funding will allow us to expand our operations into the UK market, with the relocation of our head office to Farnham.”

Derek Ellis, Senior Fund Manager at the FSE Group, said: “Six Degrees team is made up of highly skilled individuals who have an abundance of experience in the telecoms fraud industry, which puts the company in a strong position to grow in the coming years. We are pleased to be working with Bryan and his team during this exciting new chapter and wish them all the success.”

Kathy Slack, CEO, Enterprise M3 LEP, comments: “As the Enterprise M3 region’s growth in high-value, hi-tech sectors continues, it is crucial that cyber-security moves at the same pace. We are delighted that we can help Six Degrees, experts in this field, to overcome the growth obstacle of access to finance and so, enable them to develop further their impressive technology. It is also great news that Six Degrees are placing their confidence in the Enterprise M3 region by locating their head office here.”

The Enterprise M3 Funding Escalator II is a £10million initiative funded by Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership. The escalator, which includes an expansion loan scheme, a trade finance loan scheme and an equity growth fund, provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £50,000 and £300,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities across the EM3 area.