The British Business Bank invests in Passion Capitals 45 million second fund

Transaction marks the British Business Bank's 18th Enterprise Capital Fund investment

The British Business Bank today announces that it has invested £17.5 million in Passion Capital II LP, the £45 million second fund from one of the UK’s best known venture investment firms. The commitment marks the 18th  investment by the British Business Bank’s Enterprise Capital Funds (‘ECF‘) programme.

Passion Capital is a hands-on investor providing financial support and mentoring at a very early stage, helping to build companies and prepare them for accelerated growth.  The new fund builds on the success of Passion Capital’s first fund, which was also supported by British Business Bank’s ECF programme, and backed the early development of high growth companies such as Adzuna, CarThrottle, Digital Shadows, DueDil and GoCardless. The second fund will continue to have the same focus on early stage technology businesses seeking up to £2 million of investment.

Robert Dighero, Partner, Passion Capital, commented: “Our first fund cohort has made excellent progress and we are now looking to add further exceptional early stage businesses to the Passion portfolio. We are delighted with our on-going partnership with British Business Bank and will continue to invest in the very best, leading edge, UK technology start-ups.”

Ken Cooper, British Business Bank’s Managing Director of Venture Capital Solutions, added: “The Passion Capital team have a track record of early stage investment in UK technology companies. They have a valuable mix of financial and operational skills and a genuine enthusiasm for building strong companies, and we are very pleased to be able to back their second fund. This is a great example of the way the British Business Bank can work through its partner organisations to fill gaps in the funding market to provide real help to the UK’s smaller businesses.”  

The British Business Bank’s ECF programme addresses a gap in risk capital investment within the UK market. The programme which has £400 million to invest over the next three years, has backed the creation of 18 funds, providing more than £620 million of investment potential for high growth businesses.

Synapse receives 250,000 from Innovate UK to develop accounts consolidation technology

Started in 2012 by serial entrepreneur Brian Donnelly, Synapse currently employs 20 people. Its largest clients include a high street bank and a leading Swedish furniture retailer. The £248,691 Smart Grant award will provide 45 per cent of the total research and development costs for 'Cloud CFO'; a new technology that will enable the group finance function to automate the consolidation process at both entity and group level. 

Brian Donnelly, CEO of Synapse said: "Our existing spreadsheet collaboration product enables an unlimited number of users from one company to work on the same spreadsheet simultaneously, while always providing one version of the truth. All changes to the document are attributed to the user, in order to establish an audit trail. The cloud-based solution also eradicates the margin for error when trying to manage version control.  

"The new technology that this Innovate UK Smart Grant will enable us to develop is for the group corporate finance team and the heads of finance from each entity. Rather than the consolidation of group finances being such a painstaking task at the end of each month, Cloud CFO will identify the relevant information from individual group entities' financial data and automate the process.  Group finance professionals can then focus their time on the strategic direction of their business and the available reports will enable them to make reliable, effective and informed decisions based on real-time accurate data.

"While there are products out in the marketplace to carry out this task, they rely on all of the group entities using the same accountancy software package, with uniform headings and formula. The entities of a company group are often very diverse in nature, each with their own set ways of generating financial data. Dictating a uniform approach across a diverse portfolio of companies has inherent inflexibility, would invariably lead to staff unrest, errors and a lack of informative data. Cloud CFO will deliver a radical and innovative solution."

The concept for the new technology has been developed by Synapse's team of software engineers, with input from Tineke Booth; the company's Finance and Operations Manager, who recently joined the start-up from KPMG.   

In addition to Cloud CFO's main function of consolidating group accounts data, a proportion of the 18 month project will be allocated to developing new semantic code. This functionality provides the capability of analysing publicly available company financial statements for the purposes of industry benchmarking and identification of businesses for potential mergers and acquisitions. 

The previous linked spreadsheet business founded by Brian Donnelly - Constellar - was relocated from the UK in order for it to grow exponentially in California's 'Silicon Valley'. Over a series of investment rounds with US venture capitalists, he raised a total of $30 million, enabling the team to grow to 160 with a customer base of 70 large clients, before he exited the business and subsequently returning to the UK.

Airware Launches Commercial Drone Fund to Accelerate Innovation in Global Industry

With the goal of supporting the most promising commercial drone businesses around the world, Airware launched the Commercial Drone Fund today and announced the first two investment recipients. The fund is investing in companies that are developing technologies critical to scaling the use of drones across a variety of commercial applications. 

Airware's Commercial Drone Fund is making $250,000 to $1 million investments in early-stage companies in the commercial drone ecosystem and will focus on five key areas: sensor hardware, software applications, cloud-based aerial data analysis tools, drone-based services, and complete solutions for specific industries. Initial funding recipients are Redbird, a cloud data analysis company in Paris, France, and London-based Sky-Futures, a leader in oil and gas data capture and analysis by commercial drone. The fund expects to invest in dozens of startups over the next two years.

The Commercial Drone Fund is structured like a venture capital fund, with capital provided by limited partners. Airware's CEO, Jonathan Downey, is the fund's General Partner. Downey has more than 10 years of experience in aerospace and aviation: in academia at MIT, in industry at Boeing, as a commercial pilot flying the Dehavilland Twin Otter, and over the past four years building and scaling Airware in San Francisco. Downey has led Airware to raise over $40 million.

"While the commercial drone industry is evolving rapidly, we still see gaps in the ecosystem. The Commercial Drone Fund will identify and boost the rising stars that are advancing important drone-related initiatives, such as powerful new sensors, intelligent analytics, or innovative field services," said Downey. "I know how hard it is to raise early money in a new space and I want to help other entrepreneurs get further faster."

Airware works with an ecosystem of third-party hardware, software, and cloud services companies to help businesses tailor commercial drones to their specific needs. Many of the companies funded by the Commercial Drone Fund are leveraging Airware's Aerial Information Platform, though it is not a requirement for funding. The fund is a separate legal entity from Airware, and Airware will not be an investor.

"Redbird is known in Europe for having the most advanced drone data analytics for mining, construction, and infrastructure inspection. Our cloud-based platform for enterprises is designed to fit within existing Airware workflows. We are very excited by this investment as it validates the added-value we're bringing in the drone ecosystem. Together with Airware and our partners, we're ready to move to the next level and expand to the US -- it's a new step and a global development for our company," said Emmanuel de Maistre, Co-Founder and CEO of Redbird.

"We're excited to be working with Jonathan Downey and the Commercial Drone Fund to shape the future of commercial drone technology to save time, cut cost, and improve safety for industry," said James Harrison, co-founder and CEO of Sky-Futures. "Our solutions are already in use with over 35 of the biggest oil and gas companies globally. Investment from the Commercial Drone Fund will speed up the delivery of our technology roadmap and create more valuable data to our existing client base faster." 

The fund will continue to invest in companies that have technologies that help solve complex challenges that businesses face when scaling drone operations. It will favor those who have traction with existing customers and a strong team with the technical knowledge and expertise needed to deliver on the company's vision. To pitch your company, visitCommercialDroneFund.com.