Octopus Ventures, one of Europe’s leading venture capital investors, has announced a £2m investment into Segura Systems, the UK technology house delivering supply chain protection to a range of industries.

The cloud-based technology creates a comprehensive audit trail that allows all businesses to track every element of their purchases, not only from direct suppliers but also throughout the extended supply chain.

This Series A funding round is the first institutional money raised by the business, which was first conceived five years ago by Peter Needle and Ian Hepworth with the aim of helping businesses regain control of their supply chains.

Segura Systems has already attracted the likes of Debenhams and Reiss as customers, and today’s funding will be used to help further develop the technology as the business seeks to improve supply chain oversight across a number of sectors. Today’s news comes just weeks after the latest change to the Modern Slavery Act, which explicitly states that businesses over a certain size must be able to demonstrate transparency in supply chains.

In November, the UK government further established its commitment to tackling modern slavery by appointing Kevin Hyland as the UK’s first Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.

>See also: NetApp announces $870m deal to acquire SolidFire

Peter Needle, CEO and co-founder of Segura Systems, said the service is important as now “people want to know that the goods they’re buying have been ethically and responsibly produced”.

“There has also been a clear and necessary realisation that modern slavery is a real issue, posing both a severe supply chain and wider ethical risk, and we certainly welcome the Government’s commitment to tackling these issues,” he continued.

“Today’s funding will allow us to further develop the cloud-based Segura Systems technology and expand our team, so we can work with more businesses and organisations, helping protect them from unethical, non-compliant and uncompetitive suppliers.”

Malcolm Ferguson of Octopus Ventures added: “Globalisation has been an incredible force, but one direct impact is that extended supply chains are now astonishingly complex.

“For a business to have full visibility on its direct and extended supply chains is getting more difficult, at a time when consumers and policy-makers are growing ever more aware of the ethical risks at work.

“When we met Segura Systems, we were impressed with both their technology and the brands they are already working with. Peter and Ian are leading a great team and we’re looking forward to working with them in the coming years.”

Further reading: Passion Capital invests in Hometouch