Warwick Music Group receives £700,000 of funding

The award-winning Coventry-based company behind the world's first plastic trombone has received more than £700,000 investment from venture capital specialists Midven and HSBC Bank plc.

Warwick Music Group currently sells around 25,000 plastic trombones - pBones - per year, making it the largest supplier of trombones in the world.

The company, which started as a sheet music retailer more than 20 years ago, has received the equity investment through Midven's Exceed Fund.  The money will be used to accelerate Warwick Music Group's development pipeline, which includes a number of new products with HSBC providing invoice finance and trade loan facilities to support the company's order book.

Led by chief executive Steven Greenall, the company has developed the world's first all-plastic trumpet - pTrumpet - and is currently designing a further range of plastic musical instruments, including a pCornet and pFlute.

Mr Greenall said: "There are a number of key advantages to plastic instruments over their traditional brass counterparts.  They are cheaper to produce and have a lower retail price, they are more robust and can resist scratches and dents, as well as being approximately a third of the weight.  This benefits young players in particular by allowing them to keep good posture.  We also make the instruments in a variety of colours which makes them both appealing and fun to own."

Mr Greenall said since reaching a distribution agreement in 2011, Warwick Music Group had sold more than 120,000 pBones in under four years.  With the launch of the pTrumpet in September last year, it had secured substantial orders for that instrument too.

"Though it is the same size and produced comparable sound quality to a brass trumpet, it weighs only one pound," Mr Greenall added.

Midven investment director Surjit Kooner said Warwick Music Group was a well-established company set for expansion with the advantage of an experienced management team.

"They have good, high quality products in what is a very competitive market, and have secured significant orders via long term contracts," Mr Kooner said.  "Our investment will help the company push on and accelerate its development as well as bringing a number of new products to market in the next year."

E-Car Club sale to Europcar creates world's first successful crowdfunding exit

Investors receive a multiple return on their investments on Crowdcube

Equity crowdfunders who invested seed capital in a company, via leading equity crowdfunding site Crowdcube, are today to receive a full exit from their investment. In a worldwide first, 63 investors who helped E-Car Club, the UK's first entirely electric car sharing club for businesses and communities, to raise £100,000 in 2013 are to be given a multiple return on their investment following the sale of the business to Europcar, Europe's leading car rental and mobility company.     

E-Car Club was founded by social entrepreneurs Chris Morris and Andrew Wordsworth as a start-up in 2011.  It was one of first companies to seek equity capital via Crowdcube where its business model combined with its social purpose appealed strongly to investors. The company combines the increasing popularity of pay-per-use car clubs as an attractive, affordable alternative to traditional car ownership, with the improved performance and reduced price of electric vehicles. E-Car Club works closely with councils, social landlords and community group partners to deliver improved economic, social and environmental outcomes for local residents.

"By joining forces with Europcar we now have access to the considerable investment and resources that we need to accelerate our growth and reach more communities," said Christopher Morris, co-Founder of E-Car Club. "We will continue to have a social mission at the heart of our business: to improve mobility on a local level whilst simultaneously reducing the cost and environmental impact of each journey taken."  

Following its fundraising on Crowdcube, E-Car Club went on to raise further growth capital via a group of socially minded investors, some of which included the original crowd investors, before securing institutional investment through Ignite Social Enterprise LLC, the UK's first social impact fund specifically targeting energy related ventures, backed by Centrica Plc.

Andrew Wordsworth added: "We absolutely loved raising investment on Crowdcube in 2013, which really kickstarted our growth and we're exceptionally grateful for the support of the crowd from investment through to exit. Without their initial investment today's announcement and our ability to deliver social benefits within local communities would not have been possible. The funding process and professionalism of the Crowdcube team matches their position as number one in the market and we're delighted that our investors, crowdfunders and angels alike, are realising a multiple return. This demonstrates how Crowdcube can make a huge difference to business ideas, job creation and economic growth."

E-Car Club already has 19 operational hubs across the UK and expects to continue triple figure growth rates over the next few years. Individuals and businesses can rent a vehicle for as little as an hour. Its acquisition by Europcar marks a fundamental step in the evolution of crowdfunding.

Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube commented, "The sale of E-Car Club to one of the world's leading car-hire companies and the multiple return delivered to the people who invested through Crowdcube marks another momentous milestone in the history of equity crowdfunding. Delivering financial returns are vital to the long-term growth of equity crowdfunding so we're extremely proud to be the first to achieve this in just over two years after investors backed E-Car Club. With over 260 businesses funded on Crowdcube I am certain that this will be the first of many."

Many investors in E-Car Club have gone on to invest in other businesses seeking growth capital via Crowdcube such as Powervault, an electricity storage device to capture solar power, which raised £150,000 and £700,000 in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Powervault, like E-Car Club was launched by Andrew Wordsworth via his Sustainable Venture Development Partners ("Sustainable Ventures") vehicle works with investors, entrepreneurial managers and corporate partners to originate, build and grow businesses in the low carbon and sustainability sectors.

Luke Lang continued: "Investing in early-stage businesses is risky but it can also be very lucrative if you diversify judiciously. E-Car Club, whose crowd investors included business owners, serial investors and senior directors at global banks as well as everyday investors, is a great example of how our investor community is sophisticated and understands the importance of diversification having made an average of 12 investments each on Crowdcube.  As crowdfunding becomes mainstream it's now commonplace for people to invest on Crowdcube alongside world-renowned venture capital firms, acclaimed angel investors, institutions and even the UK Government."

UK based Crowd Vision raises significant growth capital

Significant new investment enables a partial exit for the Angel CoFundCrowd Vision's software enables the user to analyse a crowd and gain live insight using real-time data

Crowd analytics specialist Crowd Vision has announced today the completion of a combined funding round which brings on-board significant US investment, providing a partial exit for the business' early stage angel investors, including the Government-backed fund for growth businesses, the Angel CoFund. This partial exit will allow the Angel CoFund to re-invest the funds back into more high-growth British businesses.

Crowd Vision's core offering enables a wide range of customers to perform live crowd analytics, tracking the movement and concentration of people from a standard video feed.  This funding will be used to support Crowd Vision, as the business eyes up the next growth stage.

The company was set up in 2011, led by CEO Fiona Strens and co-founder Anders Johansson. Crowd Vision's technology has a wide range of applications - from improving safety at events at the London Olympics to managing the flow of pilgrims at the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The technology has also proved popular with airports such as London City Airport where the company's market-leading technology is able to smooth passenger movement throughout the terminal and negate bottlenecks. 

Fiona Strens, CEO and co-founder at Crowd Vision said "We see this investment as a real boost as we move on to the next stage of Crowd Vision's development. Anders and I will continue to manage the business and, like the CoFund, many of our existing angel shareholders are staying on to participate in the next phase of growth too. We thank all our backers for their support over the recent years."

Tim Mills, Investment Director at the Angel CoFund said "Fiona and her team have built an innovative business, with international appeal, that has seen significant traction with customers and investors alike. The growth capital announced today has provided an attractive partial exit for the Angel CoFund, allowing us to recycle that funding back into new British businesses, whilst still keeping a share of future value growth of the business. Crowd Vision is a great success story and having been involved since the early stages it's fantastic to see the team given this endorsement to take the business to the next stage of growth."