2012

Albagaia will use some of the £500,000 of new funding for an export drive for its testing kits. This funding was split between equity and grant funding; half of the equity investment came from Equity Gap angel group and half from Scottish Enterprise’s (SE) Scottish Investment Bank, with this funding unlocking a further £250,000 in research grants.

The company’s test can detect the Legionella bacteria in 25 minutes compared with up to two weeks in a traditional lab. Legionnaires’ is a bacterial disease that causes a lung infection or pneumonia and is transmitted by contaminated water, especially from heating or water supply systems. The Linlithgow-based firm also plans to develop its water treatment systems and has developed smartphone software which speeds up the process of reading test results.

Albagaia chief executive Graham Tyrie said: “This demonstration of faith in Albagaia’s future prospects allows us to fund both water treatment and our innovative smartphone reader software which reads test results independently and transmits them to a central database.”

Equity Gap chairman Jock Millican said: “Albagaia is an excellent investment with the three strands of the business at different stages of development.”

www.albagaia.com

May 2012

March 2012 = Sonis Europe has developed a new home alarm system which houses a single sensor in the control keypad.

Sonis Europe, led by Bill Marr, has now completed its equity fundraising by securing £250,000 of equity from Discovery Investment Fund. Sonis was introduced to Discovery Investment Fund and to two other angel syndicates by DC Consulting, although the two other syndicates who expressed interest in investment withdrew once it was clear Discovery Investment Fund had quickly reached Heads of Terms with Sonis.

The alarm system, which has been in development for some time uses sound recognition to determine whether a door or window has been opened. The business was started by Bill Marr after leaving Marconi. He had plenty of experience of the systems currently in use, which use an array of contact sensors and infra-red beams, but felt that the increasing sophistication of such systems led to unnecessary complexity, the end result of which was that systems are not appropriately utilised, or are occasionally not used at all. He felt that sound recognition was the answer to simplifying an alarm system, as it enabled a single sensor to replace the range of different sensor types in conventional systems; doors and windows make much the same noise when being opened, so he began by capturing the sound signature common to them all.

Sonis Europe now has a production model of the alarm system ready and will next be completing the tooling for the device, ready for a market launch in June 2012. The company plans to market directly to DIY chains in the UK, to electrical retailers and installers and to traditional installation forms. The system will be available for purchase online with video footage of its capability already commissioned.

Further information is available at http://soniseurope.com

DC Consulting recently completed the refinancing of a Small Trading Group, which involved the identification of the most appropriate funding mix, marrying this with the available funders in the market and project managing the entire process through to drawdown.

March 2012

DC Consulting acted as the Corporate Finance adviser to a Specialist Coatings business which was recently sold to a Coventry based PLC.

March 2012

DC Consulting, performing the role of deal initiator and corporate finance adviser to a  Leisure Group, announced the completion of the acquisition of 8 leisure outlets in a transaction backed by London-based VC.

February 2012

Edinburgh, UK 24 January 2012: Mobile Acuity, a leading technology company enabling interactive brand marketing campaigns using its Visual Interactivity™ platform, today announces that it has secured a significant equity investment to expand the company’s operations into the U.S. and East Asian markets.

The investment comes from bieMEDIA, a U.S.-based online marketing and media solutions company, and Scottish-based business angel network fronted by Steven Morris and the University of Edinburgh. This transaction quickly follows Mobile Acuity’s announcement that leading global retailer Tesco PLC is deploying its technologies, which includes a trial of mobile visual search, the company’s revolutionary image-based search application that enables “point and shoot” mobile commerce (m-commerce).

The use of “Point and Shoot” is the latest in mobile marketing and m-commerce. Unlike QR Codes or other image-capture search technologies that have limitations for real engagement, point and shoot m-commerce gives consumers convenience and flexibility. With Mobile Acuity, consumers can point a Smartphone at a product or image of a product in an advertisement, shoot a picture and receive all the information, and even make purchases, anytime and anywhere.

Chris Wade, Executive Chairman at Mobile Acuity comments: “This round is particularly exciting for our company and our shareholders as it allows our company to expand into the U.S. market with a key strategic sales distribution partner whilst simultaneously diversifying our award-winning mobile visual search technologies into other vertical markets.” Wade continues: “Importantly, the inward investment into the Scottish economy will also allow us to continue to grow and invest in local skills and resources.”

Jon Barocas, CEO at bieMEDIA commented: “Our strategic investment in Mobile Acuity demonstrates our commitment to revolutionizing the way our clients and consumers interact by offering compelling web, video and mobile commerce experiences and opportunities.”

About bieMEDIA
For the past 20 years, bieMEDIA has revolutionized its client’s brands online. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, with offices in New York and Paris, the online marketing and media solutions company is a single-source partner for the delivery of every online marketing solution necessary for businesses to be successful in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape. With its full suite of turn-key solutions for video, web and mobile production, distribution, hosting/CDN, video platform technology, metrics and performance analytics, website creation, mobile websites, social forum profile fulfillments and account management system solutions, bieMEDIA is continuously innovating and driving real engagement opportunities and maximum impact for its clients. For more information, visit www.biemedia.com.

About Steven Morris
Steven Morris is a successful technology innovator, strategist and business leader having driven innovative ideas from inception to commercialisation on multiple occasions. As a founder of profitable high-growth technology development and manufacturing businesses he has delivered technology, raised funds, grown businesses and achieved successful exits for investors. As an experienced executive he has operated as CEO, CMO & COO, in both early stage and medium sized companies. In these roles he has managed the transition, divesting and restructuring following acquisition. His internationally proven leadership and innovation spans cutting-edge research, development and commercialisation. These leadership qualities are combined with his capabilities to protect, generate and manage IP to maximise retained value within the business.

About Mobile Acuity
Mobile Acuity is a technology company enabling Mobile Visual Search applications for retailers and interactive campaigns using Visual Interactivity™ for brands and agencies. Working with leading digital agencies across Europe and North America, Mobile Acuity has used its mobile visual search technology to create engaging and award winning mobile applications for brands including Disney, Nike, Adidas, Pepsi, Lynx and Vodafone. The company also licenses its mobile visual search platform to customers such as leading mobile price comparison company Scope and leading digital media delivery company 7Digital, enabling them to add visual search capabilities to their own products.

For more information visit www.mobileacuity.com