Category: Deals

Network 90 is a premium, invitation only, private members networking website for professional sports and entertainment industry, founded by Luis Figo and Luke Donald.

In July 2013, angel syndicate ESM Investments completed a £200,000 funding round, together with the Scottish Co-Investment Fund.

Network 90 offers a gathering place and highly valuable networking opportunities for a global community that cannot, due to its high public profile, easily benefit from other open social platforms. In addition, it provides bespoke tools to enhance the business operations of each sport. The service has already surpassed 3,000 members, thriving on organic growth and private email invitations. Agents & clubs swap information and trade daily on Network 90, where there are currently over 270 players active on the live transfer list.

The platform and business is highly scalable, and in 2014 golf will launch with Luke Donald, followed by F1 and the major US sports.

Further details can be found at www.network90.com

In preparation for the current owner Maurice McKay’s pending retirement, Muirfield Contracts Limited has been acquired by Azure Investments. Founded in 1999, Azure is a Private Equity group with a diverse portfolio of investments. Their acquisition of Muirfield permits an entry into the construction sector at a senior level and Muirfield’s reputation for quality and stringent control fits well within Azures philosophy.

Dundee based Muirfield Group is one of the leading privately owned construction businesses operating throughout Scotland and provides discerning Clients with a full construction package across all sectors of the property and construction market.

Founded by Maurice McKay, FRICS, FCIOB and former colleague Jim Ross in 1988, Muirfield celebrates their 25th Anniversary this year. The company have enjoyed unparalleled, consistent, and controlled growth by satisfying Client’s requirements through understanding their needs and delivering high quality and cost effective solutions. This growth has been achieved by ensuring complete customer satisfaction and continuous improvement in a high level of repeat business from satisfied client’s who remain loyal.

A key stage of the acquisition process is the succession and transition in leadership from the current managing director Maurice McKay. It is therefore with great confidence Azure announce with immediate effect the appointment of Lindsay Cowan as the Company’s new managing director. Lindsay will work alongside Maurice during the transition period and will be fully supported by the existing Muirfield management team which remains unchanged.

Lindsay is an experienced construction professional and is a much respected local individual, an ideal successor to Maurice. He previously led the management team of Mansell Tayside & Fife as Regional Managing Director. Under his leadership, that team consistently delivered high quality projects and achieved extremely high levels of customer satisfaction very similar to the Muirfield ethos.

Maurice will hold the position as Joint-Chairman of the Company along with John Stodart, Chairman of Azure (www.azureinvestmentgroup.com)

Albagaia is an environmental technology company with four complementary strands to its business, but the one currently providing the most rapid growth in sales is the detection of Legionella antigen.

Albagaia recently completed a second round of funding from its investors, Equity Gap and the Scottish Co-Investment Fund, which will be largely devoted to building on its growth. Hydrosense, acquired by Albagaia in 2010, is claimed to be the world leader in on –site Legionella testing, and the world’s fastest Legionella test. Albagaia has been building a global distribution network for this business, and is increasing its focus on the USA, where regulations based on ASHRAE standards (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating & Air-Conditioning Engineers) will soon come into force. Scottish Development International (SDI) is supporting the globalisation approach with a business support grant. In the UK, the main customers for this test are shipping companies which must meet International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.

To support the Hydrosense Legionella test, Albagaia has developed and patented a smartphone based reader, which was introduced to the market this month. The company has also created a water quality database and an iTunes app, specifically targeted at the needs of the dental market – as Legionella is diffused in mists or sprays, the water sprays used by dentists constitute a hazard which must be monitored. The Hydrosense Pro version (comprising an integrated database and reader) and the iPhone version were on show at the giant Medica exhibition in mid November.

Another strand of the Albagaia business has also been making strides recently. Together Albagaia and BBI (part of the Alere group), who manufacture the Hydrosense test and have an international clientele in lateral flow testing (LFT), formed a joint venture company Novarum DX. Lateral flow testing is a technique used for microbiological tests at the point of care in the healthcare market. Novarum DX will develop the Smart phone reader technology for exploitation across the LFT market and beyond into other chemical and biological assays. Albagaia has developed a platform technology and is licensing the IP to Novarum DX. The company is selling development contracts to major companies in the pharmaceutical and drugs related sectors.

Albagaia’s fourth business strand is water treatment technology, which is still being developed although recent success with Hydrosense sales and Novadum means that it is getting a lower focus at present. In early 2012 Albagaia secured £350k in grant support and £235k in equity investment for the development stage of this work, and the implementation started in April. An AO solution has been developed and demonstrated on industrial samples for caustic recovery from phenol contaminated wastes.

Deal Data
Completion: 6 February 2013
Amount: £150k
Investors: Equity Gap, SIB (SCF)

Blipfoto has secured a substantial new round of investment, which will allow the Edinburgh-based photo-sharing platform to focus further on international growth.

The funding round was led by Steven Morris of the ESM Investments syndicate and includes Gareth Williams, co-founder and CEO of fellow Edinburgh-based online firm Skyscanner. Blipfoto has also attracted new private investment from North America, while additional funding has been added by previous investors, technology entrepreneur Ian Ritchie, former MIT managing director Ken Morse and the Scottish Investment Bank. The new funds take the total investment in Blipfoto up to almost £700,000 (approx $1,120,000 ) and will be used by the company to build a scalable customer acquisition model and fuel growth. Speaking of the investment, Blipfoto founder and CEO, Joe Tree said: “This is a massive step forward for the company, and provides the funding to build quickly on our established worldwide audience. Our new investors bring renewed strength and the experience of building big consumer brands online, so I’m really excited about this next phase of growth. 2013 is going to be a huge year for Blipfoto.”

Blipfoto, which allows its users to share just one photo a day on their online photo journal, already has tens of thousands of users globally, with around 17m monthly page views. The platform is home to almost 2.5 million images – each representing a single day in someone’s life. Blipfoto’s growth is set to be fuelled further by the release of a major new iPhone App. The new app – which is just the first in an armoury of releases – will look to build on the strong community aspects of Blipfoto’s existing online presence. Blipfoto, which counts Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak among its high profile users, has also worked with a host of international brands on partnerships and projects, including Calumet Photographic, Channel 4, the Scottish Government and the Edinburgh Festivals.

Gareth Williams said: “Blipfoto is a great concept, excellently executed, that creates a wonderful mode of personal expression that builds over time.” Ian Ritchie added: “I was delighted to invest in Blipfoto, a superb Scottish company with a genuine global scope. This is the site for people around the world who care deeply about the quality of the photographs that they take, and who want to share them with others who feel the same.” ESM Investments’ Steven Morris said: “Nearly 1 minute in every 5 minutes spent online is now spent on social networking sites, whereas this category accounted for only 6% of time spent online in March 2007. The Blipfoto platform maps to this growth trend by delivering a clearly differentiated product that adds real value across many demographics and cultures.”

Notes:
• Blipfoto.com is the online daily photo journal. What started in Edinburgh now has tens of thousands of contributors in 172 countries worldwide. With 17 million monthly views, Blipfoto is a hugely engaged online community – and it is already home to almost 2.5m images. Blipfoto won a Scottish BAFTA award and has collaborated with a number of big organisations, and governments.

DC Consulting has completed a round of equity finance for a specialist software business. This funding will be utilise to scale the business commercially over the next 12-24 months prior to raising a larger round of funding.

Nov 12

Aberdeen-based oil and gas services company Screw Conveyor has been bought by a private equity firm, Azure Investments.

Azure Investments paid £5m for the business, which specialises in designing and supplying conveyors that move waste materials away from drilling sites.

Azure chairman John Stodart said the business was highly profitable and well-positioned to expand abroad. He said: “We have very ambitious growth targets for the business which we are confident we can achieve given the existing strength of the order book and the pipeline of opportunities in overseas markets. “We have very good relationships with the rig operators in Russia and a strong presence in Kurdistan and Iraq, as well as Saudi Arabia and Dubai. Our plan to have fabrication plants in both Dubai and Singapore will help consolidate on our success to date.”

DC Consulting acted as lead adviser and deal initiator to Azure Investments.

DC Consulting has recently completed a confidential transaction to enable a client to realise significant value over a controlled period of time, which will assist in succession planning over the medium term – transaction value of £2m.

May 2012

On behalf of one of its clients, DC Consulting has recently secured £1m of innovation grants in order to assist with funding its strategic growth plans. This grant will provide an integral part of the company’s funding as it embarks on the next evolution of its technology development and commercialisation.

May 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

DC Consulting has successfully assisted a specialist rail engineering business to position itself and then secure investment to commercialise its technology.

This assignment involved a detailed strategic planning exercise, coupled with a number of market scenarios, in order to determine the most appropriate route forward, culminating in securing investment.

DC Consulting also assisted with EIS advance clearance and positioning from a tax perspective.

April 12