Ten early stage technology businesses in Wales are a step closer to developing their products and services having secured a combined £2.4m of equity investment from the Development Bank of Wales in the ten weeks since the UK went into lockdown.
Those to benefit include Swansea-based Armadillo. The £150,000 equity finance will enable the provider of advanced materials to commercialise its electroplating technology.
Other investments include £625,000 for Flintshire based Reacta Biotech to further develop their diagnostic tool for food allergies and £400,000 for Cardiff-based Digital Asset Services, a provider of insurance services to the crypto currency sector. Trading as Coin Cover, the investment will provide working capital and support further growth.
Cardiff-based Bond Digital Health, a developer of smartphone tools connecting to lateral flow diagnostic test devices, has received £300,000 to enable the company to recruit more staff and work towards a Series A funding round later in the year.
Swansea based Ortharize, which provides a rewards-based B2B SaaS travel-booking platform, will use a £250,000 investment to fund business operations, while Newport based Space Forge will use the same level of investment to build components for the company’s re-usable manufacturing satellites.
Universal Synergistic Holdings, trading as Hybrisan, the company is based in Neath Port Talbot and will use £250,000 to scale up production of its anti-microbial products.
Other companies that also received investment from the Development Bank of Wales during the lockdown include Zeal t/a Litelok, a manufacturer of specialist anti-theft products, and Journolink, an interactive low-cost SaaS platform enabling SMEs, agencies and business support organisations to manage start-up PR and send out stories to journalists, broadcasters and bloggers.
The Development Bank of Wales also increased its shareholding in Hexigone Inhibitors, another producer of advanced materials.
With a specialist team and funding to support technology businesses, the Development Bank of Wales is one of the top five technology investors in the UK according to the Beauhurst Report.
Simon Thelwall Jones, director of technology ventures for the Development Bank of Wales, said: “We have boosted our technology investment team again this year and now have 16 dedicated investment professionals making tech investments.
“That’s a reflection of our commitment to back early stage businesses across the whole of Wales. As the most active investor in tech-rich businesses in Wales we are here to provide patient capital for businesses through seed and later stage equity finance often investing in those businesses for several years.
“Ten deals in ten weeks demonstrates the continued appetite by young technology businesses for timely funding to support the commercialisation and development of their products. From production of prototypes to clinical trials, we are providing equity funding where and when it is most needed to create jobs and develop the next generation of world class businesses that call Wales their home.”
