News

The Play Company, based in South Devon, has secured a £500,000 loan from the British Business Bank’s South West Investment Fund via appointed Fund Manager, The FSE Group. The investment will support the company's growth and expansion plans, including the creation of 20 new jobs over the next three years. 

With its roots as a soft play maintenance provider for over 20 years, The Play Company pivoted to a full-service offering of design, manufacture, and installation of soft play structures, interactive play areas, and sports pitches for the family entertainment centre sector, just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Despite the unprecedented challenges brought about by lockdowns, the company has now firmly established itself in the market and witnessed significant growth with an almost 70% increase in turnover last year. 

The funding will enhance operational capacity and expand international reach by enabling investment in new staff to handle increasing workloads, larger premises to accommodate the growing team and increased marketing efforts. 

Elliott Myatt, Managing Director of The Play Company which is based near Kingsbridge, said: "We're excited to use this South West Investment Fund loan to build on recent successes and convert our robust pipeline into new contracts. As a newly profit generating business, we don’t fit the criteria for high street lenders so finding in FSE a funder that is focused on the growth potential of our offering is refreshing. This investment will be pivotal in achieving our ambitious growth targets." 

Rob Ward, Investment Manager at The FSE Group, commented: "As a projection-led lender, we are thrilled to support The Play Company, a business with a strong reputation and significant growth trajectory both in the UK and internationally. The award-winning management team has demonstrated resilience and innovation, and we are confident in their ability to achieve their ambitious expansion goals." 

With this new investment, The Play Company is poised for significant growth, ready to manage increased project volumes in a global market currently worth circa $30billion and continuing to expand. 

Paul Jones, Senior Investment Manager, from the British Business Bank said: "The South West Investment Fund is designed to unlock growth opportunities for businesses across the region, and The Play Company is a great example of the impact that access to finance can have, especially when a business might not have the trading track record to satisfy many lenders. This investment will drive future growth and create a significant number of new jobs.” 

The purpose of the South West Investment Fund is to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across the South West. It offers a range of commercial finance options with smaller loans from £25k to £100k, debt finance from £100k to £2m and equity investment up to £5 million. 

The fund is increasing the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for South West smaller businesses, providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive investment and helping to break down barriers in access to finance. 

Big Business Intelligence, trading as Distil.ai, has successfully secured a £350,000 equity investment from the British Business Bank's South West Investment Fund, via appointed Fund Manager The FSE Group. The funding is part of a £1million round that also includes investment from Waterspring Ventures.  

Distil.ai is an AI-driven data and analytics platform that has carved a niche in transforming raw data into actionable business intelligence, with a particular focus on the restaurant and hospitality sectors.

Its scalable platform leverages AI to deliver powerful data insights, significantly boosting returns through operations, marketing effectiveness and customer relationship management. The Exeter-based company collaborates with OpenTable, the world’s largest restaurant booking platform, as well as other platforms, to unlock operational efficiencies.

The funding will fuel Distil’s ambitious growth plans, enhancing its team and advancing platform development including the addition of multi-language capabilities, ahead of a planned Series A funding round.

Gerry McNicol, founder and CEO of Distil, said: “This funding is allowing us to invest in key activities to accelerate our growth trajectory and solidify our position in the market. Planned developments mean we can continue to provide customers with unparalleled insights at exceptional value. We are excited to partner with The FSE Group and South West Investment Fund as we continue to expand our capabilities and enhance our platform.”

Distil’s competitive advantage lies in its ability to integrate multiple data sources, resolve fragments of customer data into usable single customer profiles whilst offering self-service analytics reducing the need for traditional data analysts. The platform is already trusted by top-tier customers such as Hawksmoor, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, The Devonshire Group, Aqua Restaurants and Crowdcube with clients reporting significant improvements including a 200%+ uplift in sales of a single product in one case and 75% business growth in another.

Meg Salt, Investment Manager at The FSE Group, commented: “With its scalable technology and strong foothold in the restaurant sector, Distil.ai is a compelling investment opportunity. The company's unique access to OpenTable data, along with its credible management team, make it an exciting proposition. Distil is well-positioned to achieve significant growth and we are delighted to be supporting them on this journey.”

Paul Jones, Senior Investment Manager from the British Business Bank said: "Distil.ai is a great example of how data-driven innovation is thriving in the South West. By harnessing AI to unlock new value in hospitality and other sectors, the business is helping customers harness their data to drive efficiency and growth. We look forward to seeing how support from the South West Investment Fund accelerates Distil's next stage of development."

Sam Huxtable, Managing Partner at Waterspring Ventures added: “We are thrilled to announce our investment in Distil. With a highly experienced team, they have developed an innovative platform to help restaurant chains leverage data science to streamline and automate complex, manual operational processes. Now, with exclusive access to OpenTable's data, Distil is poised for significant growth, and we look forward to supporting them in seizing this exciting opportunity. 

The purpose of the South West Investment Fund is to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across the South West. It offers a range of commercial finance options with smaller loans from £25k to £100k, debt finance from £100k to £2m and equity investment up to £5 million. The fund is increasing the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for South West smaller businesses, providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive investment and helping to break down barriers in access to finance.

At The FSE Group we talk about sustainability a lot; it’s a weighty word with nuanced meaning.  

As one of our company values, we talk about it in terms of sustainable finance and sustainable growth. But we are also focused on the more familiar aspect of environmental sustainability, both in how we work with and support our portfolio companies to meet their environmental targets, and also the actions we take as a business to ourselves be more sustainable. 

By using an ESG VC framework with all of our portfolio, we ensure that these companies are assessing, monitoring and working towards strong ESG principles across their business. Many of the businesses we work with are registered B Corps or working towards B Corp accreditation and/or have made a commitment towards net zero. 

Our portfolio also features a number of businesses where the operation is provision of sustainable products and services, including: 

• Connekt Group is an independent electric vehicle (EV) charging network and commercial installation business, which secured a £250,000 Investment Fund for Scotland (IFS) loan to develop Connekt’s first three rapid charging hubs in Scotland, contributing to national sustainability goals and supporting the transition to electric vehicles. 

• Revolution-ZERO provides reusable medical textiles such as masks and surgical textiles. The company secured £1m South West Investment Fund equity to grow its circular economy solution that uses decontamination/sterilisation units equipped with an RFID tracking system. 

• Flexi-Hex received a £0.9m mix of debt and equity funding from Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund to grow its sustainable packaging solutions, originally developed for the shipping of surfboards. Their durable, patented, recycled paper honeycomb sleeves are now used in the transit of goods including wine and premium toiletries, are curbside recyclable, and biodegrade within eight weeks. 

• RAD Propulsion is helping to reduce marine carbon emissions with its innovative electric engine technology, which cuts CO2 emissions by 89% compared to traditional diesel outboards. A £500,000 equity investment  from our Funding Escalator in the South East is helping the business drive product development.  

Since 2022 The FSE Group has been working towards Carbon Neutral Status, using an independent assessment tool and taking practical steps to change behaviours and practices that would reduce emissions. 

Paul Marston, CEO at The FSE Group, said: “with our focus on ensuring the businesses we fund are taking steps to be environmentally responsible, it’s important that we can lead by example.  Following the work to reduce our emissions, we have now taken action to offset the small amount of residual carbon via Carbon Neutral Britain. By supporting CNB’s Woodland Fund, we’re supporting projects both in the UK and around the world that are actively removing Carbon Dioxide & Greenhouse Gases from the Earth’s atmosphere. We’re proud to have gained Carbon Neutral status and look forward to continuing to support our portfolio companies to do the same.” 

Award-winning Yorkshire based Mini First Aid is expanding with investment from Finance Yorkshire.

The company was founded nine years ago by Kate Ball who has successfully grown the business which now operates more than 70 franchises covering most of the UK.

Mini First Aid provides first aid training and education to people of all ages with its original parent and carer classes proving most popular. Other classes are aimed at children and adults with workplace training available.

Kate started the business from her home after her brother died suddenly from heart failure. His student friends called the emergency services but the students did not know how to do CPR. Later, pregnant with her first child, she found there was little in the way of first aid training for parents-to-be.

A £100,000 investment from Finance Yorkshire’s Loan fund will support Mini First Aid in its growth ambitions which include new product development and staff hires including a marketing manager.

Mini First Aid’s parent and carer class covers all emergency situations including CPR, choking, bleeding and burns. On average, 1,000 families are trained each week. The company also sells branded first aid kits and has recently added a reuseable hot and cold gel pack to its product range.

Kate said: “My aim has been to build a brand providing first aid training which is memorable. All Mini First Aid classes are a brilliant learning experience – they are hands-on with skills taught in a way that people will remember should they need to put them into practice.”

Kate is joined in the business by her husband Matt who is operations and financial director. They have six children and Kate was named Yorkshire Businesswoman of the Year 2024.

The couple are now working with leading charities and the NHS to provide fully funded classes for low-income families. Kate added: “Only 10% of new parents are learning first aid so the opportunity to grow Mini First Aid in the UK is massive. There is also the potential for us to roll out our training model in other countries.”

Alex McWhirter, CEO of Finance Yorkshire, said: “Under Kate’s leadership, Mini First Aid has become a widely recognised brand delivering vital life skills to people of all ages. We are pleased to support the Mini First Aid team in their ambitions to grow further by reaching more people with their innovative style of first aid training.”

Business angels from the FSE Investor Network, in collaboration with investment funds and funding escalators managed by The FSE Group, have recently made significant contributions to the growth and innovation of several FSE portfolio companies.

Recent FSE angel investments include:

• RAD Propulsion: a £25,000 investment from one business angel contributed to a £5m funding round that also included £0.5m equity from the FSE managed South East Funding Escalator.
• Cybaverse: six FSE business angels collectively invested £91,000 alongside a £350,000 equity investment from the FSE managed Coast to Capital Funding Escalator as part of a £1+m round.
• Aura Life: backed by £84,000 from three FSE angels and a £350,000 equity investment, again from the Coast to Capital Funding Escalator, in a £2+m round.
• Intelligent AI: a £2+m funding round included £131,000 from a syndicate of six FSE angels with a £500,000 equity investment from Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund, managed by FSE.

These companies operate in diverse sectors – marine electrification, cybersecurity, end-of-life planning and commercial property insurance – but all are driving innovation and facing substantial growth opportunities in the markets where they operate. The investments are helping to fund a range of growth-related activity, including product development, team expansion, geographical expansion and scaling operations, to help maximise their potential.

FSE’s Investor Network Manager, Trevor Jones, remarked: "Our network is committed to empowering high-growth UK companies across various sectors. We believe in the potential of these entrepreneurs and are dedicated to supporting their journey towards success. The diverse expertise and substantial experience of our business angels play a crucial role in driving these companies forward."

The FSE Investor Network remains an exclusive platform for active angel investors. Spanning all sectors, the network offers investment opportunities in high-growth businesses that, importantly, are backed by FSE-managed funds. Our angels share a breadth of entrepreneurial, professional, and business experience and typically invest between £10,000 and £50,000 in each company, sometimes more.

FSE Investor Network member and UK British Business Angels Association Angel Investor of the Year 2024 finalist, Damian Cavanagh said: “FSE Investor Network provides access to opportunities that have been vetted by the FSE investment teams, providing an added level of confidence when co-investing alongside FSE-managed funds. It’s great to see a broad range of potential deals and choose those that align with my interests and experience.”

For more information on investment opportunities or to join the FSE Investor Network, contact Trevor Jones: Trevor.Jones@thefsegroup.com