2006 Challenge Winners

In November 2006, six companies from across the Midlands region were announced as winners of the Challenge Midlands £1 million Investment Challenge. Find out which businesses met the 2006 Challenge and what they thought of their experience.

Nottinghamshire based active8, winners of the DTI and BT Technology Innovation Award 2006, use artificial intelligence to improve organisational recruitment and performance management.

The company was founded two years ago by Laurence Collins and Mathew Lymbery, who were previously divisional Directors of Ceridian - a leading player in the global HR outsourcing sector. They recognised that clients were demanding more value for money from their HR function and decided to set up their own company to meet that need.

Commenting on how active8 has developed since its success last year, CEO Laurence Collins said: "Going through the process of actually entering the Connect Midlands Challenge really added value from a strategic perspective, as it ensured that we had a firm and workable proposition in place. It also provided us with the discipline to focus on every element of our business from market research through to an evaluation of our commercial models."

Winning the Connect Midlands Challenge has enabled active8 to secure £250,000 backing from Catapult Venture Managers, who manage the East Midlands Regional Venture Capital Fund (EMRVC), as part of a total funding package of around £900,000, and has also introduced Paul Gratton (formerly CEO of Egg) and Richard George as a key non-executive appointments.

Laurence Collins said: "Securing the investment has given us a powerful vehicle to ensure we can go to market in the strongest position possible with our products. Importantly, it has also given us the ability to attract talented staff which is fundamental to the success of active8. If we had continued to grow organically, it would have been difficult to attract the very best to invest their career progression with us."

"I strongly urge Directors who are currently in a similar place to me just one year ago, to enter their company in the Connect Midlands Challenge. The process will definitely ensure you have an effective business model in place in addition to exposing your business to potential investment opportunities."

Rugby based Silver Lining Solutions (SLS) was formed in 1999 as a pioneer in the field of skills management technology. It has now developed its software to focus on a niche in the call centre market and uses a combination of online tests, self assessment and observational feedback to assess the level of agent skills across the contact centre, and integrates into other platforms to provide dynamic Skills Based Routing across the contact centre.

As winners of the 2006 Challenge, SLS entered negocaitions with Midven Ltd and secured £100,000 of investment now, with a further £125,000 being added later in the year to enable the company to increase its spend on sales and marketing. In preparation for the funding injection, SLS appointed a new managing director James Pratt, who, with his intimate knowledge of the call centre market, has been driving the company forward.

4energy is a Nottingham based company that has developed a range of products with novel and energy efficient technologies that cool electrical and electronic equipment, such as back up batteries and servers.

Their product is designed to be effective throughout the world and doubles the life of sensitive equipment by holding it at the optimum operating temperature. Customers benefit from an improvement in network reliability and reduced costs.

The company is owned by its three Directors who have a mix of commercial and technical skills in technology exploitation developed at local businesses and universities.

Pat Tindale, Director of 4energy said "The Connect Midlands Investment Challenge gave us a great opportunity to pitch our business. Their straight forward advice helped us to prepare well for what turned out to be a successful round of raising finance."

4energy were winners of the 2006 Connect Midlands £1million Challenge, entering negotiations with Catapult Venture Managers, and recently gaining a £300,000 investment commitment.

Northampton based Blackstar Amplifications design and manufacture innovative electric guitar amplifiers. They are a technology driven, design and manufacturing company that was formed in 2004 by a team of leading individuals from the musical instrument industry.

Previously employed by the market leader they have an unrivalled track record of technical innovation and are developing products with unique features and patented innovations that will differentiate them from the competition.

Blackstar required funding over a two year period to complete development of their catalogue of products and deliver them to the worldwide market. Following the 2006 Challenge, Blackstar accepted a syndicated deal for £460,000 investment.

Birmingham based Scyron was founded in 2002 when their core video analysis technology was patented. Scyron developed a range of products for real-time analysis, retrieval and archiving of video footage from security cameras, existing video installations, or from pre-recorded material and moved into profit in 2004.

Scyron now sell to most UK regional Police Forces including the Metropolitan Police, as well as London Underground, County Councils, bus companies and video forensics companies, and they have recently started selling into the USA Department of Homeland Security.

The patented, proven and versatile core technology coupled with strong in-house expertise in video content analysis, places Scyron in an ideal position to further exploit this growing market.

As 2006 Challenge winners, Scryon entered further discussions with the Challenge backers.

Colm Watling, Director of Service Alert said, 'The Connect Midlands Investment Challenge was a great event for Service Alert to be involved with. As well as making us critically question our business plans (on which we received excellent expert feedback), we made some excellent contacts that will help us drive the business forward.'

'Perhaps best of all, through the competition we got plenty of exposure to the investment community, which resulted in a number of offers and ultimately allowed us to access the funding we needed on terms that we were happy with.'

Nottingham based Service Alert develops products which enable customers in the hospitality industry to experience better service, and which allow venue owners or managers to measure and improve service. In addition, owners derive directly quantifiable benefits in terms of higher average spend per head and improved staff productivity.

The initial product is a table-top "pod" which allows customers to inform the serving staff that they need attention. The pods are linked via wireless connection to a central touch-screen which allows staff to prioritise their activities.

The company were looking for second round equity financing for marketing, product development and working capital.

Colm added 'With this funding in place we're able to drive the business forward, and to take advantage of some business opportunities that previously we'd have been unable to resource.'