When I settled down to write the first investment update for 2022 I certainly didn’t expect to find that we would have started the year with such a bang! In January 2022, 21 companies in the South West have successfully raised equity investment and when added together it totals nearly £158million.
The diversity of this group of companies is matched only by the variety of investors involved in the deals. Investors mentioned in the press coverage include funds like Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF), angel groups like 24 Haymarket, VCs like Augmentumn Fintech, AshGrove Capital, and Puma Private Equity, to the investment company BGF.
Of the nearly £158m equity funding raised, about £149million has been disclosed publicly through press coverage that we were able to uncover thanks to our data partners Beauhurst, read on to find out more:
ChatterStars
Business accelerator TwinklHive has invested in the company behind an app designed to improve children’s vocabulary. ChatterStars, based in Torquay, was created in 2018 by Helen Prince and Matt Salter. Prince has worked for more than 20 years in education as an English teacher, Ofsted inspector and advisor to academy chains. Salter is a tech entrepreneur with 20 years’ experience in the digital industry.
cushon
UK workplace pension and ISA provider Cushon has raised £35m and acquired a pension scheme. Cushon has now raised £61m in the past two years, following the new round of funding. Existing investors Augmentumn Fintech and AshGrove Capital, an independent pan-European lending firm, contributed to the round. The funding will be used to help develop the fintech’s mobile app and build up its overall operations, Cushon said.
Deazy
A Bristol tech company has raised £5m in a Series A funding round. Developer marketplace platform Deazy secured the investment from Puma Private Equity. The business said it would use the cash injection to scale its commercial team to accelerate growth and further build out its development team. It is also planning to hire a chief product officer to sustain the delivery of platform experience, it said.
Logan Electronics
Cornish company Logan Electronics has secured a £250,000 equity investment from the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF), as part of a larger £500,000 funding round. The deal was led by the FSE Group, the appointed fund manager for CIOSIF, with the investment enabling Logan Electronics to continue its recent impressive growth (sales almost doubled in the first six months of the company’s current financial year), and help fund a move to new premises in Redruth in February 2022 from its current base in Ponsanooth.
Matter.
Climate-tech startup Matter has just completed a Pre-Series A funding round, securing €442k fresh funding from Builders Vision’s Rising Tide Fund. This new boost follows on from receiving €175k from the British Design Fund and the young company’s entry into the Elemental Excelerator programme. Founded in Bristol in 2017, Matter is on a mission to pioneer new tech solutions to capture, harvest and recycle microplastics.
My Supper Hero
The vice chairman of Manchester United has backed a meal delivery start-up founded by singer Myleene Klass and serial restaurant entrepreneur Jamie Barber. Ed Woodward, the executive who re-signed Cristiano Ronaldo this season, has contributed to a seed funding round for My Supper Hero.
Smartia
Smartia, the leading UK industrial intelligence technology company, announced a £1.7m investment, led by 24Haymarket and supported by existing investors. Smartia’s flagship intelligence platform, MAIO, combines Artificial Intelligence (AI) and deep industrial expertise to provide manufacturers with an end-to-end Industry4.0 solution.
Stripe & Stare
BGF has led a £2.5 million investment round into sustainable female underwear brand, Stripe & Stare, alongside a consortium of high-profile investors. BGF provided £1.5 million of growth capital with the remaining amount coming from private backers, including Richard Longhurst, co-founder of Lovehoney and Sam Galsworthy of Sipsmith Gin. Headquartered in Devon, Stripe & Stare was founded in 2017 by friends and business colleagues Katie Lopes and Nicola Piercy, with the aim of creating the most comfortable and eco-friendly knickers in the world.
Synalogik
Synalogik, a London, UK-based provider of a data automation platform allows organizations to aggregate data, identify risk and create reports, raised more than £3m in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Bill Currie, founder of retail, ecommerce and tech investment fund, the William Currie Group and Sir Terry Leahy, former CEO of Tesco. The company intends to use the funds to scale its Scout solution across different markets and territories and to expedite the launch of additional solutions that have been in development over the past 18 months.
TrueSpeed
Bath-based broadband provider Truespeed has received a £100m capital injection from Aviva Investors to fund the rollout of its “gigabit-capable” full-fibre network to homes and businesses across the southwest of England. It brings the total investment made by Aviva Investors – the asset management division of insurance firm Aviva – to £175m following its £75m backing in 2017. Founded in 2014, Truespeed is an internet service provider and that installs full-fibre infrastructure such as underground cables that connect premises to the internet.
This article is written as part of the Investment Activator Programme (IAP) in the West of England. This programme is run by TechSPARK and is kindly sponsored by TLT LLP, delaware, West of England Combined Authority, UWE, Sanderson, Engine Shed and Rocketmakers. Find out more about the IAP here.
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