Deals and Acquisitions

Kick ICT and Consilium UK

IT services provider Kick ICT has acquired Consilium UK. The deal, which is for an undisclosed sum, marks the eighth in seven years for Kick ICT, and comes as the firm expands its services to customers across the UK.

According to Kick ICT, the acquisition has resulted in an expanded and enhanced technical division within the group, extending the portfolio of IT products, services and support provided to both the SME and Enterprise markets.

The acquisition of a specialist technical services provider with a presence in London is also a key strategic move in the firm’s ongoing growth strategy and focus as a leading IT services supplier.

Tom O’Hara, CEO of Kick ICT, said: “Kick has made excellent progress during the last year including integrating the three acquisitions we made in 2021.  The addition of Consilium sees us create an outstanding and unrivalled technical team and I’m excited about working with Richard, Stuart, David and the team.”

“I’m delighted to welcome our new customers from Consilium and very much look forward to working with them.

“In addition, it’s great that our new customers will take us over one of our early milestone objectives of working with 1000 customers across the UK.”

Richard Abrams has been appointed Head of Technical Services and joins Kick alongside co-directors Stuart Beattie, David Hood and 25 former Consilium staff.

Abrams added: “We are delighted to be joining Tom, Alan and Jeannie and the team at Kick and are looking forward to delivering outstanding technical solutions to customers across the group.”

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Glasgow Warriors and Brillband

High-speed broadband start-up, Brillband, has signed a major sponsorship deal with Glasgow Warriors. Hundreds of households in Glasgow and Renfrewshire have joined the waiting list in hope of testing the firm’s tech.

After a pioneering trial in which participants will receive three months free broadband, all customers will receive a fixed-rate tariff of £35 for 900Mbps connection – nearly half the price offered by some of the biggest players in the broadband industry.

The disruptive start-up has partnered with Glasgow Warriors to celebrate its launch in the city, and to support its ambitious growth plans over the next three years.

Brillband founder Duncan Di Biase said: “Within our initial three-year sponsorship period, I believe Brillband can become Glasgow’s most loved broadband provider. Glasgow Warriors is the perfect partnership for Brillband – we have shared values as we both want to make a positive impact in Glasgow.

“For me, it was a no-brainer to launch in Glasgow, and it was just as simple a decision to connect with a rugby club which is such a massive part of the community. We look forward to providing the Warrior Nation with the best possible service at the best possible rate for many years to come.

“This will be a true partnership in every sense. We look forward to delighting Warriors fans and the wider community with a whole host of surprises in the months ahead.”

ePOS Hybrid

Scottish foodtech company ePOS Hybrid has announced the launch of its all-in-one hospitality solution in India.

The firm said it plans to invest £2 million over the next three years into its overseas venture with bosses at the firm anticipating 1,000 new clients within the first year of operating

Bhas Kalangi, Founder of ePOS Hybrid commented: “It’s another milestone for the team at ePOS Hybrid – we’re really proud of the work that has been carried out to get us to this point.

“India is a country known for its brilliant cuisine and food plays a strong part in its wider culture but tech adoption within the sector is still within its infancy. With little established competition and a growing industry demand, the Indian market represents a great opportunity for ePOS Hybrid.

“With an ever-expanding team and product range, now was the ideal time to expand our locations too and we already know the Indian market extremely well. I have first-hand experience of living and growing up in India and having operated a support office in Hyderabad for the last four years, it was always number one on our list.”

It is the latest chapter of rapid growth for the company, which raised almost £750,000 in its latest crowdfunding push, which included £100,000 of angel investment.

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Core Technology Systems and CompanyNet

IT managed service provider Core Technology Systems acquired CompanyNet in a deal that includes the firm’s Edinburgh and Glasgow offices and all 25 of its staff.

The hope is that the acquisition will increase the project delivery capabilities to the benefit of both Core Technology Systems and CompanyNet customers.

“We are delighted to complete the acquisition of CompanyNet, a highly skilled and customer-centric company whose values align to ours,” commented Core Technology Systems CEO Connor Callanan.

“We are focused on developing capability and excellent levels of service for our customers, and this acquisition means greater capability and additional resources.

“We have developed long-lasting relationships with our customers and partners because they trust in our delivery of service excellence, and this expansion provides opportunity for us to add more value to our existing and new customers,” he added.

Andy Hamilton, CompanyNet CEO, added: “We are pleased to confirm Core as our partner of choice, demonstrating the experience, values and expertise that ensures our business remains in excellent hands.

“As well as fitting with the broader CompanyNet strategy, we are delighted to have culture and values that align, and we are confident this agreement represents the best interests of CompanyNet employees, customers, and partners, providing great opportunities for both parties.”

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Opulus Financial and Nicolson Accountancy

Opulus Financial completed the acquisition of Glasgow-based accountancy firm, Nicolson Accountancy, in September.

The deal marks the largest acquisition for Opulus since launching as a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Solutions business last year.

The acquisition, funded by previous investment made by N4 Investments and startup support from Virgin Money, allows Opulus to significantly expand its footprint as the business continues to expand its unique CFO Solutions offering throughout the country.

This latest move marks the fourth acquisition deal since Opulus was founded, joining the smaller acquisitions of John Kerr & Co in Saltcoats, Alexander Marshall in Motherwell and Craig Cleland in East Kilbride.

Commenting on the deal, Matthew Garstang said: “This is a pivotal acquisition in the growth of Opulus Financial. Nicolson Accountancy is a highly regarded practice in the industry and both Angus and Sue bring a wealth of accountancy and tax experience.

“Their knowledge will be invaluable to the business going forward as we look to further expand our presence across Scotland.”

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Souter Investments and Converge Technology Solutions

Edinburgh-based Souter Investments has announced that it has reached agreement to sell Stone Technologies Group, a provider of Circular IT solutions, to Toronto Stock Exchange listed Converge Technology Solutions.

Souter acquired a majority stake in Stone in 2019, investing alongside the Company’s management team and a syndicate of investors managed by private equity house RJD Partners.

The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval.

Simon Harbridge, Stone CEO commented: “In 2019 we were looking for the right partner to support the next stage of Stone’s development. It has been a pleasure to work with Sir Brian, John, and the Souter team as well as David MacLellan and RJD Partners.

“The emergence of Covid on the heels of Souter’s investment confirmed our decision to partner with them, with pragmatic advice and considered support the norm, allowing us to focus on our successful growth and transformation strategy. We look forward to continuing our exciting journey as part of the Converge family of businesses.”

John Berthinussen, Managing Director at Souter Investments added: “We have really enjoyed working alongside Simon and his team, who have shown real market leadership and a true commitment to sustainability and tackling the problem of e-waste.

“Stone has grown very strongly, marrying a focus on providing truly innovative and market leading products, services, and solutions with outstanding customer service, all things that resonate with its clients.

“We look forward to seeing that continue in partnership with Converge and wish Simon and his team every success in the future.”

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Funding and Investment

Pufferfish

Edinburgh-based spherical display company Pufferfish is seeking fresh investment, the company’s recently appointed CEO Elaine Van Der Berg told DIGIT.

With a target of £600,000, the new funding will help the company on the next stage of its growth.

“It’s because of our position as the market leader in a growing market, that now is the right time to secure additional investment so we can expedite our refreshed and new, exciting product launches,” Van Der Berg noted.

For its latest funding round, Pufferfish will approach existing investors to give them the first opportunity to increase their shareholding. After that, the company will approach new investors.

“We will officially open the book build in September with a view to closing it quite quickly within four to six weeks,” Van Der Berg added.

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Penrhos Bio and Eos Advisory

Cleantech startup Penrhos Bio has raised £1 million in funding with the support of St Andrews-based investment firm Eos Advisory.

The investment boost will accelerate the commercialisation of the firm’s pioneering anti-biofilm technology, RemoraTM.

Commenting on the investment, Penrhos Bio CEO Professor Richard Hammond said: “Our story is one inspired by nature, with sustainability and the environment front and centre of everything we do.

“With the support of Eos and a number of private investors, we continue to build the business, grow our team with key hires, further our commercial partnerships, and navigate the regulatory environment ahead of commercialisation.”

The next twelve to eighteen months will see Penrhos move through the necessary regulatory approval processes alongside its commercial partners.

The company says it also plans to embark on a Series A fundraise from Q4 2023.

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Trojan Energy

Trojan Energy is also set to expand operations after securing £9 million backing from the Scottish National Investment Bank.

The investment will enable Trojan Energy to scale up and increase its workforce, and builds on early-stage investment received from a host of investors, including Scottish Enterprise.

Trojan said the funding also underpins plans to install more than 2,000 charging points across the country by the end of 2023.

Commenting on the funding, CEO Ian Mackenzie said: “We approached the Bank as there is clear alignment of missions and we see them as long-term partners on our journey.

“Our charging system is designed specifically to help accelerate the journey to net zero by making electric charging points more accessible. We want the EV transition to be for everyone, not just those with a driveway.

“The Bank has been there for us at the crucial point where we are beginning to get big orders in. The investment will allow us to further commercialise our technology and increase our manufacturing capacity.”

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University of Glasgow

Researchers from the University of Glasgow are part of a team who have received new funding from the European Research Council.

The team’s project is one of 55 new initiatives funded by the EU’s research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe.

Professor Ana Basiri and PhD student Petrus Gerrits, of the School of Geographical & Earth Sciences, are leading Glasgow’s contribution to a project led by colleagues from Koç University in Turkey, which involves a network of collaborators from across Europe.

Over the next 18 months, the researchers will collaborate to create new geospatial artificial intelligence-based land use and land cover models of Bulgaria and Turkey.

Professor Basiri, Chair of Geospatial Data Science at the University of Glasgow’s School of Geographical & Earth Sciences, said: “Currently, our understanding of historical and future depopulation, land abandonment and deforestation are constrained by the limitations of existing data. While we may have access to historical population data, their data quality, reliability, and completeness may be questionable.

“The system we’re developing will allow us to build a more complete and reliable picture of changing land use and populations, key considerations for Europe’s future and for countries around the world.

“I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues at Koç University to support this important research. This also demonstrates our strong commitment to continue collaborating with our EU partners.”

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Archangels

According to a new report, Edinburgh-based investment syndicate Archangels, has generated up to £1.4 billion Gross Value Added (GVA) for the Scottish economy from its investments in the life sciences and tech sectors.

The analysis, conducted by the University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School, found that the £161m invested by Archangels since 1992 has directly created 3,647 high-skilled jobs and indirectly created a further 1,500 jobs.

Since 1997, the jobs created through the syndicate’s investments have paid, on average, 39% more than the median Scottish salary.

The syndicate currently has around 120 members invested in a portfolio of 20 early-stage companies. Research found that every £1 invested generated between £7.11 and £8.45 for the Scottish economy.

Archangels’ current portfolio is worth an estimated £211.29m and supports more than 755 jobs. Since 1992, the group has successfully exited 25 of its investee businesses including three that went to an IPO, 1 MBO and 21 trade sales.

During the year to date, Archangels has invested more than £12 million in some of Scotland’s most promising technology and life science companies including Integrated Graphene, Cytomos, Earth Blox, Administrate and BioCaptiva.

David Ovens, Joint Managing Director of Archangels, said: “Over the past 30 years, Archangels has had an incredible impact on both the businesses we have invested in as well as the wider Scottish economy.

“During that time Scotland has undoubtedly established itself on the world stage as a leader in technology and life sciences. We’re home to some incredibly innovative companies and remarkable entrepreneurs and we are proud of our own track record over 30 years in supporting some of these to grow and scale.

“If Scotland is to realise its ambition of building a modern, successful and sustainable economy, then we need to continue supporting innovative businesses to enable them to achieve their full potential.”.

“The Archangels story has been one of significant contribution to some great successes over the last 30 years and we look forward to working with our portfolio and investors to make the next 30 even more successful.”

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Miso Legal

Edinburgh-based Miso Legal has raised substantial Seed funding from an international group of angel investors, supported by Thorntons’ high growth team.

The funding will enable Miso Legal to invest in further enhancing and marketing its case analysis platform, which was created to help litigators more efficiently manage their document-heavy, complex caseloads.

In addition to helping Miso to structure and complete its Seed funding, Thorntons has also adopted Miso Legal across its litigation teams.

The latest funding round will support further development of Miso Legal’s app, which is set to expand beyond litigators to include all aspects of the dispute process.

Miso’s founder and former specialist insurance advocate, Pete Milligan said: “It’s been highly rewarding to see the positive impact it has had at Thorntons. We are grateful to the firm for being an early adopter and for the excellent advice and support its knowledgeable people provided during our two funding rounds.”

Alistair Lang, partner and Head of High Growth at Thorntons, added: “Digitisation is having a profound effect on the legal industry, allowing law firms to work more efficiently and effectively by reducing the amount of time spent on paperwork and largely manual, administrative tasks.

“Miso Legal is a brilliant product and its developers have exciting plans to grow and expand the platform. It’s great to see another dynamic, Scottish-based tech business achieve success.”

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Trojan Energy

Aberdeen-based Trojan Energy received a £4.65 million contract to install its electric vehicle charging points in London.

Barnet Council awarded the contract to Trojan to install over 500 charging points in the borough of Barnet.

They will be located across 34 of Barnet’s streets and will be operational in phases by November 2022 and March 2023.

CEO of Trojan Energy Ian Mackenzie said: “We are delighted to be awarded this contract by Barnet. Trojan Energy’s mission has always been to ensure everyone benefits from the energy transition.

“We know that people are four times more likely to own an electric vehicle if they have a driveway but, by rolling out Trojan Energy’s on-street charging points, we are making owning an EV increasingly accessible to the millions of motorists that park on-street without cluttering our streets with permanent charging posts.

“This is Trojan Energy’s largest contract to date and it puts us firmly in a position to lead the widespread roll-out of clutter free on-street EV charging to urban area. Our charging points will provide EV charging for hundreds of Barnet’s EV drivers and will enable thousands more to make the switch. This keeps us on track to deliver on our ambitious target to deploy several thousand Trojan Charging Points over the next two to three years.”

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ClearSpace and Astroscale

The UK Space Agency has awarded £4 million to ClearSpace and Astroscale to design missions to remove existing pieces of space debris, working with a consortium of industry partners.

Once the designs are complete, the teams, along with other UK space companies, could receive further funding to see the UK’s first national space debris removal mission launch in 2026.

The projects will directly support the creation of 70 new jobs, with further opportunities to increase growth in the wider UK space sector, which already supports 47,000 jobs and generates an income of £16.5 billion each year.

The UK Space Agency has also announced a new Enabling Technology Programme (ETP), with up to £15 million to support innovative space research and develop emerging space technologies across the UK.

Dr Paul Bate, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said: “As our reliance on space technologies increases rapidly and the UK becomes a global hub of satellite design, manufacturing and launch, we are committed to leading efforts to make space more sustainable.

“With 1,700 satellites launched last year alone, the need to safeguard the space environment for the benefit of everyone on Earth has never been more pressing.

“By catalysing investment, backing innovative new technologies and supporting a national mission to remove space debris, we can keep space open for future generations and protect the important satellite services that modern life depends on.”

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Orkney Research and Innovation Campus

Highlands and Island Enterprise (HIE) and Orkney Islands Council (OIC) have announced £2.8 million in funding to support the second phase of development at the Orkney Research and Innovation Campus (ORIC).

The funding boost will help enhance existing facilities and create new spaces to enable more academic and commercial activity, collaboration, and business incubation.

John McGlynn, executive manager at ORIC said the support will help “keep up the momentum” from the first phase of development work at the campus.

He said: “This funding, along with the funding contribution from the Islands Growth Deal, will allow continued modernisation of the campus to ensure that our existing and future campus organisations have the facilities they need to thrive.”

Graeme Harrison, area manager for HIE in Orkney said: “ORIC plays such an important role in supporting the growth of existing research and innovation activity and the expansion of companies in Orkney’s marine renewables, energy, and low carbon sector.

“This significant investment will support the growth of existing businesses and the creation of new ones.”

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Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund

Ten companies have been awarded a total of £9.4 million to help Scottish industries reduce carbon emissions through decarbonisation and energy efficiency projects.

Recipients from the second round of the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF) are predominantly involved in the manufacturing and food and drink sectors.

The projects awarded funding have the potential to reduce emissions by 40,482 tonnes of CO2 a year, the equivalent of the annual emissions from 17,000 households.

A further £160,000 has also been made available to conduct up to four engineering or feasibility studies into future projects that will aim to reduce emissions and increase efficiency within the sector by creating a pipeline of future projects.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “Reducing emissions in our manufacturing sector will be a crucial step in ensuring Scotland reaches its net zero target by 2045.

“I am pleased that the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund continues to support companies across the sector to embrace decarbonisation, improve efficiency and reduce their impact on the environment.

“This week is Scotland’s Climate Week, which puts a renewed focus upon the ongoing climate emergency and our efforts to tackle it. And as households and businesses struggle with rising energy costs, it has never been more important to support industry to become more energy efficient. I welcome the work that the Fund has already supported and I hope that many more businesses will apply in the future.”

Up to £34 million of Scottish Government funding will be made available through the lifetime of the five-year SIETF, which runs until 2026. The third round of applications is now live.

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