Feb 16, 2015

Deputy Business Editor Monday 16 February 2015 ARCHANGEL Investors has underlined its appetite for backing ambitious Scottish technology businesses by participating in providing more than £3.3 million of new funding for three companies. ARCHANGEL Investors has underlined its appetite for backing ambitious Scottish technology businesses by participating in providing more than £3.3 million of new funding for three companies. Custom byline text:  Greig Cameron The money is being used to support expansion and new jobs at PowerPhotonic, Bloxx and Administrate. The angel syndicate said around 60 of its members had participated in the latest funding round for the firms, which were already part of its portfolio. Loading article content It co-invested in the deals alongside the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise. Micro optic lens and laser performance enhancement firm PowerPhotonic, based in Dalgety Bay, Fife, was the biggest recipient as it got more than £2m to beef up its sales and marketing activities while also extending manufacturing capabilities. The company, formed in 2004 and which uses technology from Heriot Watt University Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences, intends to use some of the cash for product development and said it will be recruiting new staff. Roy McBride, chief executive, said: "We've already proved that we can produce the highest quality optics for laser applications in a number of sectors here in Europe, in the US and in Asia Pacific. "This new investment in the business will accelerate our growth plans, allowing us to take on additional staff to expand our product development, manufacturing and sales activities. " Meanwhile software company Bloxx, which has its main base in Livingston, West Lothian, got £800,000 which it plans to use revamping its sales operations at home and overseas. The company, which specialises in filtering software for email and websites, has an estimated seven million people using its products across Europe and the United States. It said growing demand for real-time filtering of content, to make sure inappropriate and malicious internet and email material is not accessed, has led to a need to make improvements to the way it sells. Bloxx chief executive Charles Sweeney said: "There are 100 new websites launched every minute across the world and our real time web filtering lets schools, colleges and businesses protect themselves and their people from the less savoury content that they may otherwise be exposed to. "This investment from Archangels allows us to take our sales operation in the UK and USA to the next level. " Finally Edinburgh based online training software provider Administrate raised £577,000 which it will use on product development along with sales and marketing. John Peebles, chief executive of Administrate, said: "We were delighted to reach break-even last year and as we grew we identified key areas where investment could help us accelerate our growth. "Appointments in sales, marketing, product development and customer service will directly translate to helping our clients save time and deliver better education. "With customers on six continents, we're proud to be located and creating jobs in Scotland, and couldn't be where we are today without our team or our investors. " John Waddell, the chief executive of Archangels, said: "Each of these businesses is world class in its own field and they are all excellent examples of the types of Scottish enterprises that Archangels is uniquely positioned to support. "They simply couldn't have developed to the stage that they have today without Archangels and we're proud of what we have achieved together with all three businesses. " Kerry Sharp, head of the Scottish Investment Bank, added: "All three of these businesses are great examples of forward thinking, innovative, Scottish companies that are actively competing at an international level. " Commenting & Moderation We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well and trust you then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules