Scottish-based business angel syndicate, Archangels, and the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB) have supported the investment of a further £2m in three growing Scottish businesses in the third quarter of 2015.
Archangels, the prominent business angel syndicate, based in Edinburgh, has been at the forefront of early stage investing in Scotland for more than two decades, alongside Scottish Enterprise’s investment arm, SIB.
The companies – NCTech, Zonefox and ATEEDA – have been supported by Archangels, along with the SIB, from early stage and their investment will be used to fund further growth. Around 50 of Archangels’ investor members chose to participate in these funding rounds.
Edinburgh-based NCTech designs and manufactures leading 360 degree reality imaging systems that automate and streamline image documentation and can be used repeatedly, accurately and consistently by anyone anywhere. In 2015, the company launched iris360, a camera system that is the only automatic spherical camera approved by Google for use by their Trusted Photographers on their official ‘Google Street View Trusted’ program and one of only two spherical cameras currently available that can publish to Street View with the Google Street View app. iris360 is also ideal for any other 360 imaging applications, whether for professional or personal use.
This was followed by a groundbreaking partnership agreement with Leica Geosystems, global leader of measurement and reality capture technologies, with NCTech’s iSTAR camera and ColourCloud software, to deliver automated, colourised 3D point clouds for enhanced usability and clarity. The additional funding of £750,000 will be used to support the recent launch of iris360.
NC Tech Chief Executive, Cameron Ure, said:
“Our pedigree in producing 360 degree imaging systems for industrial use was the perfect starting point from which to build a prosumer-grade product like iris360 and we have enjoyed working with Google to address this challenge. This funding will enable us to fulfil the order book for our camera, which we launched in September and are now starting to ship. Archangels and SIB have been excellent shareholders for NCTech. There have been challenges along the way and they have been very supportive.”
Zonefox, based in Edinburgh’s Old Town, helps its customers to protect their business critical data and intellectual property from malicious or accidental breach from insiders by providing next generation data monitoring, security analytics and endpoint security. The company will use its £650,000 of funding, provided by Archangels, SIB and Borders-based angel investor TRI Cap, to scale its operations as it targets profitability in 2016.
Jamie Graves, Chief Executive of Zonefox, said:
“We have successfully rolled out our product to a number of key customers and this funding will allow us to scale our operations as we seek to achieve our high growth revenue goals. Our shareholders have been very supportive. They get where we are and the different stages we have been through and they have backed us all the way.”
ATEEDA, also based in Edinburgh, helps microchip companies reduce their costs, as the complexity of their products increases, by offering two options to provide cost-effective chip testing. Its £600,000 of further investment will be used to bring its next generation, high precision semiconductor test module, “generATE”, to market.
David Hamilton, Chief Executive of ATEEDA, said:
“We launched our new product, generATE, at the industry’s largest tradeshow and it has already attracted significant interest from blue chip companies across the sector. generATE enables our customers to test that their chips achieve the highest performance and the modular nature of the product also offers substantial reductions in capital equipment expenditure. This investment demonstrates a strong commitment by our major shareholders to support their portfolio companies through to success.”
David Ovens, Chief Operating Officer at Archangels, said:
“Archangels’ philosophy has always been about supporting entrepreneurs to succeed. Alongside our financial investment in companies we provide mentoring and advice, enabling management to focus on achieving their business goals. These companies are excellent examples of that strategy in action.”
Kerry Sharp, Head of Scottish Investment Bank, said:
“Scottish Enterprise is pleased to be able to continue to invest alongside Archangels in these three promising companies. We look forward to continuing this partnership, and working directly with these companies to help them achieve their growth ambitions.”
