Two Scottish digital image archiving specialists will merge following further growth equity from investment syndicate Kelvin Capital and the Scottish Investment Bank.

Glasgow-based iMetaFilm will join forces with UK Archiving, combining operations, expertise and patented technology with the business to take advantage of a growing international market. The business will be based in Hamilton at UK Archiving’s current premises.

The funding boost will allow the combined business to invest in new technical resources and staff to help accelerate the commercialisation of iMetaFilm’s technology. The combined business currently employes around 14 members of staff.

iMetaFilm develops technology which enables the digitisation of traditional moving film archives. The company has undertaken work for The Royal Society, the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, Diageo, the Cuban National Film Archive and also the Library of Congress in Washington DC.

Meanwhile, UK Archiving boasts an esteemed client list, having worked for organisations including Historic Environment Scotland, the National Library of Scotland, the Senate Library and the Tower of London. The firm has also undertaken work for genealogy websites Ancestry.com and findmypast.co.uk.

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Michael Howell, founder and director of iMetaFilm, said: “With everyone craving more and more digital content for use across countless media platforms, as well as a desire to protect and save film archives for future generations, iMetaFilm’s patented technology now unlocks and commercialises these archives for a wide range of existing and new markets of, literally, millions of hours of film of enormous commercial and cultural value.”

The G4T Group, formerly the owner of UK Archiving, will also take an equal shareholding in iMetaFilm that will wee David Knox, former managing director of the firm, join the Glasgow-based company’s board.

Knox, who will take on the role of managing director at the company, said: “People across the world have an endless interest in their past and the richness of content available through digitising film adds a fantastic dimension to the experience.  The combined expertise of iMetaFilm and UK Archiving is very exciting for the digital archiving industry.”

Angus Hay from Kelvin Capital added: “iMetaFilm’s technology is truly disruptive and a world first with a global patent portfolio.”

“Combined with the outstanding client base and highly experienced management team of UK Archiving, we are looking at a true step-change for this industry, providing a cost-effective and significantly improved end product which requires zero preparation of the original film material, and that is a real game-changer for the market.”