Investment Update: July Jubilation for some

July was one of the hottest on record globally, and it was also pretty hot from an investment perspective in the South West. The month saw a smaller number of companies raise investment – a modest 12 companies closed equity investment in July, seven of which didn’t announce the news publicly (yet). The other five have shared their news to some degree or another – read on to find out about the £81 million that they raised between them.

Netcraft, the global leader in cybercrime detection, disruption, and takedowns announced today that the company has raised over $100M from Spectrum Equity, a leading growth equity firm focused on internet-enabled software and data services companies. Along with the investment from Spectrum, the company named experienced technology executive Ryan Woodley as its new CEO.

SETsquared Bristol alum, AutonoMe has secured over £300k of investment from Ufi Ventures and Bristol City Funds to support the scaling up of its employment support programme for neurodiverse people and those with learning disabilities.

AutonoMe blends mobile technology with human support to enable neurodiverse people and those with learning disabilities to develop skills for independent living and employment.

DealerDoc had an original investment target of £200K in the UK, they were significantly oversubscribed, closing the round at £324K.

A Bristol-based company has secured more than £600,000 to continue its efforts to “transform” domestic energy infrastructure using community ‘microgrids’. Cepro, formerly known as Clean Energy Prospector, funds and builds small-scale electricity grids, which are designed to be a self-sufficient source of power to a local network of properties, reducing reliance on the National Grid.

INSPHERE, manufacturers of IONA, have successfully secured funding of £3.7 million. This funding will back their growth plans to push IONA into new regional markets including Germany and the US within the Automotive, Composites and Aerospace sectors. Disrupting the market, IONA is a scalable network of sensors delivering metrology-grade positional data to automated manufacturing processes.

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.

If you are an investor and you would like to receive the regular newsletter and event invitations related to investment, please find more information and sign up here

And finally, if you are raising investment for your business and you would like to submit your one page proposition for the next QIB event, please find more information at the bottom of this page.