Nicholas Fearn brings you the latest news from the Welsh tech sector.
October was an exciting month for technology in Wales, with lots of exciting announcements and milestones for the country.
Here are our top picks!
Careercake’s investment
Careercake.com, a platform for career advice and learning, secured major investment from two of the founders of leading comparison website Gocompare.
The company gained financial support from Hayley Parsons OBE and Kevin Hughes, the entrepreneurs who pioneered Gocompare and turned it into a national brand.
Although the financial details of the investment remain undisclosed, the amount is believed to be substantial enough to help the company scale both at home and abroad.
The firm was set up by Aimee Davies in 2010, who left her job in corporate recruitment to help people go further in their professional lives.
She said: “I am thrilled that entrepreneurs of such calibre as Hayley and Kevin have invested in Careercake.com and share our vision for its future.
“It is amazing to have them on board. Whilst funding is a necessity, having the strategic and tactical insight of such successful business people in Hayley and Kevin is worth far more to me.”
Edtech platform
Edtech is an exciting and growing industry in its own right, and there are a number of organisations and companies pioneering the sector in Wales.
Leadership and Management Wales is one of them. In October, it announced LMW Hub, a platform aimed at helping busy professionals in leadership roles.
The hub provides a plethora of tools, resources and discussion to help leaders and managers excel in their positions and introduce better decision-making into their firms.
Jo Riley, director of Leadership & Management Wales, said: “The LMW Hub has been developed to help overcome these issues and to provide the tools and resources for managers to develop themselves,” said Jo Riley, director of Leadership & Management Wales.
“We know that managers find it difficult to fit learning into their busy working lives so the LMW Hub editorial team monitors the content published from over 300 world-leading sources including Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Business Insider and Entrepreneur.
“We pick the ‘best of the best’ for the LMW Hub, saving managers time and effort, plus we provide an Online Mentoring tool, helping managers make time for their professional development,” added Riley.
FinTech exit
Telecoms is another leading industry in Wales, and Siphon is one of the companies putting it on the map in the country. Last month, it underwent a successful exit.
The company, which has received substantial financial support from Welsh Government’s investment arm Finance Wales, was bought by the Nuvias Group.
Specialising in unified telephony and cloud-based systems, the company launched a £1.5m investment round in March 2015 and has been growing ever since.
The company will remain in its current location, along with its staff and management team. Nuvias Group is to help Siphon expand its interests across the UK.
Steve Harris, managing director for Siphon Networks, said: “This is a great opportunity for Siphon staff, vendor partners and customers.
“It enables us to accelerate our growth plans and expand geographically in the UK and EMEA, as part of a much larger organisation, which shares our core beliefs and dedication to high service levels, and has the resources to help us realise our goals,” he concluded.
A trade mission
October was a big month for a group of high-growth Welsh tech startups. They undertook a successful trade mission to London and pitched to seasoned investors.
The trip was organised and run by Innovation Point, an independent organisation set up by the Welsh Government to bring new technological opportunities to Wales.
In total, six companies took part in the trip, including agile FinTech platforms, cutting-edge social media tracking software and an app designed to streamline healthcare.
David Warrender, chief executive of Innovation Point, said: “Innovation Point strives to know what new technologies are being developed, and uses this information to cultivate the very best of Welsh innovation.
“Through events like this, we make it easier for entrepreneurs and small businesses to build partnerships and for investors to participate in these exciting growth opportunities.”
A £5m raise
Port Talbot-based Vizolution, which creates SaaS customer experience technologies, closed a £5m equity investment round at the start of October.
The firm, which launched in 2013, develops a range of omni-channel solutions that are used by some of Britain’s biggest financial and utility companies.
HSBC was one of the biggest investors in the round, although a number of existing shareholders also took part. Finance Wales has already invested £1m.
Bill Safran, CEO of the company, said in a statement: “A significant element of our success has been through partnerships with our customers.
“We regard the investment by one of our major customers, HSBC, as a very strong vote of confidence in the solutions that we are providing to the market.
“We have set ourselves significant growth targets in both in the UK and internationally and this investment from HSBC will help us achieve those targets.
“We are also very pleased to have the continued strong support of Finance Wales who have helped fund our success to date,” Safran added.