Video game developer floats with £145 million market cap

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Sumo Digital, the video game developer behind Little Big Planet 3 and Sonic All Star Racing, which has bases in Sheffield, Nottingham and Newcastle is now trading on the UK’s AIM with a market capitalisation of £145m. Its private equity owners, Perwyn, management and shareholders were expected to sell around £40m in the offering, with Sumo Digital selling a […]

Cheshire start-up Ebb3 raises £1 million funding from Maven

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Cheshire-based Ebb3, which specialises in the virtualisation of 3D graphical applications, has raised £1m from venture capital trust (VCT) Maven Capital Partners, which has also reserved up to £500,000 for follow-on investment in the supercomputing start-up. Mark Vickers, CEO at Ebb3, said: “We are proud to have secured Maven’s confidence and investment in Ebb3. We were able […]

Digital ID becomes £20m-turnover business with key acquisition

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Manchester-based ID card company, Digital ID, has acquired Smart Card Store, a £2.5m turnover Brighton-based business that specialises in the supply of smart ID cards to both end users and trade customers. Guy Hudson will remain as managing director of the East Sussex Smart Card Store, following the acquisition, and the newly acquired company will continue to […]

Mercia backs Manchester’s Intechnica with £3.5m investment

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Investment group Mercia Technologies has completed a £3.5m direct investment into a Manchester-based software specialist Intechnica as part of a £5m funding round. With revenue growth of more than 150 per cent during the last three years, Intechnica has already developed a high-profile client base that includes Ted Baker, AO.com, Pets at Home and Avis. […]

SoundChip moves into new office at Sci-Tech Daresbury

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Swiss-headquartered wearable sound technology firm, SoundChip, has opened a new office space at Sci-Tech Daresbury, a National Science and Innovation Campus in the Liverpool City region between Runcorn, Warrington and Manchester, where it has been based since 2011. Thanks to strong appetite for its system-level audio solutions, which are used by global brands including Panasonic, […]

Tethered Drone Systems raises £300K from robotics funder Britbots

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Britbots, an organisation devoted to promoting the fortunes of UK-based robotics companies, has invested the first part of a £300,000 funding package for Cheadle Hulme’s Tethered Drone Systems. Britbots operates the British Robotics Seed (SEIS) Fund and the equity crowdfunding platform, Britbots CROWD, which both support promising robotics-related businesses performing autonomous tasks on land, air […]

Giacom stages management buyout with VC support

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VC Livingbridge announced an investment in Hull’s Giacom, a specialist cloud services marketplace which provides cloud services to the SME market via the Information Technology Consultants (‘ITCs’) community. Giacom offers a one-stop platform for all of the cloud software, infrastructure and IT support services that an ITC might require to transition an SME client into a public […]

US data analytics provider Verisk acquires Sheffield’s Rebmark

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International data analytics provider Verisk has acquired Rebmark, a Sheffield-headquartered software company that works with the injury claims sector. With the acquisition of Rebmark, Verisk’s clients in the UK can take advantage of software and systems that save time, capture data, improve accuracy, and eliminate inefficiencies for those working in the injury claims sector. Together, […]

Government launches £68 million AI and robotics fund

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The Government has announced more than £68 million of investment from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) for a programme of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) projects aimed at improving safety in extreme environments. The programme will develop robots and artificial intelligence to take on jobs in the freezing depths of the North Sea, dealing […]

Tech Returners launches 11 week coding course

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Tech Returners, an initiative which develops the skills of people returning to or entering tech roles after a career break, is launching an Introduction to Coding course. Based at The Landing MediaCityUK, Tech Returners has partnered with Barclays Eagle Labs and Northcoders to offer the course, which starts this month. Lasting 11 weeks, the free […]

Millgate partners to help businesses with upcoming GDPR

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Sheffield IT services firm Millgate has teamed up with cloud and endpoint cybersecurity company Bitdefender, cyber security and data protection firm Forcepoint and consultancy training provider IT Governance to educate and assist businesses still unpicking and understanding the implications – and potential impact on their business – of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements and […]

Digital Lab launches for hands-on experience with emerging tech

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The Digital Catapult North East & Tees Valley (NETV) has opened the Immersive Lab at the Northern Design Centre in Gateshead, which will also allow companies to test out any new hardware on offer. Non-digital businesses will be able to attend events and demonstrations designed to teach them more about the industry. Access to the […]

Stockport rail tech firm secures £1m funding for job creation

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Stockport tech firm Trolex Aporta Holdings has secured £1m investment from Finance Birmingham’s national Rail Supply Growth Fund. The funding will enable the business to accelerate its growth plans with the rollout of an in-carriage entertainment system, and create 38 new jobs. The company’s Juxta Infotainment System allows uninterrupted streaming of TV shows, news, travel information and movies […]

Kcom and University of Hull constructing new data centre

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The University of Hull and KCOM are set to construct a new multimillion-pound data centre to address demand in the region. The centre will be called The Hull Data Centre and is to be constructed at the University of Hull and will serve its needs as well as those of KCOM and Hull College. The […]

Nomad Digital strikes deal with Hitachi to bring Wi-Fi to Scottish trains

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Scottish rail passengers will now be able to use surf the internet while on the move after Newcastle Wi-Fi specialist Nomad Digital struck a deal with Hitachi Rail Europe. Newcastle based Nomad secured the deal to supply Wi-Fi technology to a new fleet of 70 trains being built in Newton Aycliffe , County Durham. Jean-Philippe Tissot, Nomad Digital’s chief commercial […]