DestiNA Genomics raises £930,000

Access to quicker and more effective diagnostic tests for cancers and infectious diseases has moved a step closer after DestiNA Genomics, a University of Edinburgh spin-out company, completed a €1.2 million (£930,000) equity investment.

The funding will provide the firm with greater capabilities to commercialise the pioneering medical tests that will ultimately benefit both patients and healthcare systems, with earlier diagnosis cutting the costs of treatment.

The funding came from Scottish Investment Bank, Old College Capital and the Vitro Group of Spain, augmented by private investors in the UK, Spain, Belgium and Saudi Arabia.

The DestiNA technology arose from the invention and patent of Dr Juan Diaz Mochon and Professor Mark Bradley in the School of Chemistry at Edinburgh University, with the “SMART Nucleobase” patent now approved for grant in the US, Europe and beyond. The global molecular diagnostics market is estimated to reach about $8 billion by 2013, growing by about 10 per cent a year.

Multi-Million Fund Raise for Specialised Metal Fabricator

JBS Group is a well-established business that has been operating in the metal fabrication sector since 1974, primarily providing quality bespoke metal products for companies operating in the oil and gas sector from their base in Peterhead.  The Group has experienced significant growth and development in recent years, with the Group’s impressive growth resulting in them operating at full capacity at the current premises.

DC Consulting, secured new funding to assist with the company’s purchase of the land adjacent to their current premises in Peterhead. This will see the company construct a new custom-built workshop and kit this out with the pre-requisite machinery. In addition, the product manufacturing and subsequent increase in capacity and revenues will result in the creation of up to 15 new jobs at the site.

The increase in workshop space will have a knock on effect throughout the Fabrication and Engineering divisions of JBS Group. Currently these divisions are working at full capacity, despite only having moved into their purpose built premises in the last 3 years. By building the new workshop, it will also give them the capacity to meet the additional work that they are currently not able to service.

DC Consulting were delighted to assist JBS in raising the bank funding required for this project, which will ultimately generate additional revenues for the group while also creating up to 15 new jobs.

Growth Funding of circa £2m secured

Working with one of clients, we have concluded negotiations with specialised property and asset financiers to provide strategic growth capital to the company to fund its ongoing growth within the oil and gas services market.

A key part of this assignment was firstly the identification of the required level and type of funds for the company and then secondly on the identification and negotiation with the preferred funder.

In addition, the funding package was augmented by the identification of Regional Selective Assistance grant support through Scottish Enterprise  to assist with the company’s growth plans.

Strategic Investment by Azure Investment Group

DC Consulting, in it’s role as lead advisers, are delighted to confirm  that Azure Investment Group have completed a strategic investment into Dick Bros. This investment represents a step change in the business, with the plan over the next 5 years is to grow both the product offering of Dick Bros, along with the geographical reach of the business, to become a dominant player within the Forestry Industry in the UK.

Growth Capital Secured – Seven Figure Package

Working with one of our long standing clients, we have concluded negotiations with the Bank of Scotland to provide strategic growth capital to the company to fund it’s ongoing growth within the oil and gas services market.

A key part of this assignment was firstly the identification of the required level and type of funds for the company and then secondly on the identification and negotiation with the preferred funder.

The DCC team are confident that they can assist your business in a similar manner – please do not hesitate to get in touch to discuss further.

£400,000 investment in Allthings Limited

Allthings Limited, a Dundee software start-up has secured £400,000 in fresh investment as it continues efforts to allow workers to eliminate round-robin emails and unclog their inboxes.

Dundee based Allthings said a string of well-known local backers had supported its corporate organiser and task-listing tool after it called for more development capital; this investment of £200,000 was then followed by match-funding from the Scottish Investment Bank through national business agency Scottish Enterprise, a process which was instigated and project managed by DC Consulting.

The boost comes just months after the company’s cloud-based software was launched last summer, and ahead of the release of a new ‘team’ edition targeted for use by larger organisations on a user licence basis.

Founders David Hay, Dee Ward and Ralph Hasselgren first worked together at Dundee software developer HoundDog Technology, ahead of its acquisition by American firm GFI Software in 2009.

Mr Hay said he and his colleagues’ productivity and collaboration software was born after the trio railed against “an enormous amount of wasted time” in list-keeping and business administration.

Allthings allows tasks to be classified, updated in real time and shared among workers without the need to trawl through a packed inbox, hard-to-follow email chain or needlessly complex spreadsheet.

Scottish Investment Bank head Kerry Sharp said the organisation was pleased to support Allthings: “a forward-thinking company with an international mindset”.

She said: “The funds will assist the company to realise its ambitious growth strategies and deliver long-term results for both the local Tayside economy and the Scottish economy as a whole.”

PressureFab Group – Acquisition of RT Metal Services

PressureFab Group, a supplier of transport and development equipment for the offshore oil and gas industry, has completed the acquisition of Arbroath stainless steel manufacturer RT Metal Services Limited.

RT Metal Services is a sheet metal fabrication company, that has over 30 years’ experience in delivering products of the highest quality to a loyal customer base, including well established blue chip companies.

This acquisition will form part of the company’s growth strategy and comes at a time when PressureFab has just been named as Manufacturing Business of the Year and Growth Business of the Year, while Hermann Twickler, PressureFab’s Managing Director, has been named Business Leader of the Year at the 2013 Courier Business Awards.

DC Consulting assisted in all aspects of this transaction and continues to advise the PressureFab Group with it’s overall strategic and financial direction.

Synpromics collaboration with Dow AgroSciences

Synpromics Limited, the synthetic promoter company, announces an important collaboration with Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW), to develop Synpromics’ proprietary technology for application in plant science. An initial proof of concept project with Dow AgroSciences has commenced to demonstrate the application of Synpromics’ synthetic promoter technology in certain crops.

David Lawrence, Chairman of Synpromics, commented, “This is an important deal for the company that validates the potential value to industry of our proprietary technology. For a start-up such as Synpromics to establish this collaboration with a leading multinational is an exceptional achievement. It is also notable that this is the first time that Dow AgroSciences has partnered with a company in Scotland. Attracting the attention of Dow AgroSciences and other partners with whom we are in dialogue augurs well for the future of the company. Therefore I am extremely proud of our team. I would also like to thank Scottish Enterprise for making the initial introductions to Dow AgroSciences as well as their support during the company’s start-up phase.”

RSA Support for Goodmark Medical

Goodmark Medical International Ltd, a Scottish technology start-up, is to create at least 20 new jobs over the next two years after securing £200,000 of Regional Selective Assistance Grant.

Goodmark are based at the technology incubator, TechCube, in Edinburgh and they specialise in developing software solutions for healthcare diagnostics and testing in doctors’ surgeries. The management team are looking to launch their RelayMed product in 2014.

RelayMed is a cloud-based software that aims to reduce healthcare workloads and costs by helping to move more tests from traditional hospital laboratory settings into GP offices. It works by capturing and storing data from point-of-care devices and transferring that information into electronic health records. Goodmark managing director Neil Farish said: “We want to ensure patients receive a higher quality of care and we passionately believe in our solution to make and empower a real improvement to their life. The funding we have secured has helped us build strong foundations and create an exciting team to start to address the needs of this growing market.”

The company has been established with the support of its parent company Goodmark Medical LLC in Florida, which is looking to enhance its product offering, utilising the skill set of the Executive and development team in Edinburgh.

DC Consulting were delighted to assist Goodmark throughout the RSA Grant Application process which has helped to attract inward investment into Scotland from the US based parent company.

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