Profile Analysis raised the money from a consortium led by Newcastle-based Northstar Equity Investors, which contributed £500,000.

A further £200,000 was secured from existing investor UK Steel Enterprise (the investment arm of steel giant Corus) with the balance coming from private investors including the Business Investors Group, a business angel network focused on north-east England.

Michelle Cooper, investment manager at Northstar, says: ‘The i-snapshot product is already being sold to major blue chip customers and has huge potential for further development.’

Alan Timothy, the CEO of Profile Analysis, claims i-snapshot allows mobile sales staff to give updates on their activity via text message, which helps companies to monitor sales activity and save money on traditional reporting methods.

Before setting up Profile Analysis, Timothy founded UK property website Homemovers.com, which was backed by private equity group 3i and sold in 2000 for £7.5 million.

Northstar has £33 million under management, divided into two funds. The North East Proof of Concept Fund supports technology projects across the region with convertible loans of up to £90,000, while the North East Co-investment Fund invests up to £1 million in equity and quasi-equity alongside business angels and other venture capital funds. Both funds are backed by the European Regional Development Fund.