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Cornish high-speed broadband provider, Wildanet, has secured further equity investment from the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF). The additional £400,000 will help the company to continue its roll-out of internet services to the thousands of homes and businesses across the county, that currently lack adequate broadband provision.

This latest funding follows an initial £750,000 CIOSIF investment last year. Since then, Wildanet has extended its infrastructure, which uses state of the art wireless radio technology, so that it is ready to connect over 100,000 properties. That’s over one third of Cornish homes, many in hard to reach areas, that could be accessing a guaranteed a minimum internet speed of 30Mb/s, going up to a lightning-fast 1Gb/s.

Wildanet is affected like most other businesses by the Covid-19 crisis, but they also appreciate that now, more than ever, high-quality internet is critical to keep Cornish businesses and residents connected. With the new funding, the company will take on new staff and increase its capacity to deliver its services more widely and quickly.

Wildanet’s CEO and Founder, Ian Calvert, said: “The coming months are going to be difficult for all businesses and we are no exception, but with Cornwall still lagging behind much of the UK when it comes to reliable internet, we feel strongly that we must push forward with a ‘business as usual’ approach as far as possible. We look forward to continuing to work with the CIOSIF team at The FSE Group, who have supported us over the last year.”

Ralph Singleton, The FSE Group’s Head of Funds in Cornwall, added: “Wildanet has made steady progress, building a customer base of more than 500 households and businesses. Their offering has impressed us from the start and this is now endorsed by the company’s exceptional customer retention rates. We hope this investment will be the stepping-stone to a major future funding round, which would allow the business to reach its full potential across its current WiFi technology, as well as further develop the progress they are making with fibre technology.”

Lloyd Brina, Senior Manager at the British Business Bank, said: “Wildanet has grown from being a young start-up to an established provider in Cornwall in a very short time and their minimum speed guarantee, especially in hard to reach areas, has helped set them apart in a competitive market. We’re delighted that the fund is supporting their continued growth with further equity investment.”

LEP non-executive director John Acornley, who chairs the CIOSIF Advisory Board, said: “Wildanet have evolved their offer to become a hybrid supplier combining wireless, satellite, 4G and fibre technology, and hope to employ 50 staff by the end of 2021. It’s that technical innovation and growth which is so exciting to see, and why the investment fund was created in the first place to support growing businesses in Cornwall and Scilly.”

The £40m CIOSIF 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 Local Enterprise Partnership (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.

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.