The Business Growth Fund has added a new technology business to its portfolio by backing Devon-based Sub10 Systems.
Wireless products company Sub10 Systems has raised £2.5 million through an institutional funding round led by the Business Growth Fund (BGF).
Located in the South West of England, Sub10 Systems designs and builds millimetre wave wireless products aimed at the mobile telecoms market. Its wireless devices are used for data transfer across mobile networks to save on radio spectrum usage and increase efficiency.
The business is predicting revenues of £10 million for the financial year ending 2014 and will be using the £2.5 million it has banked to invest in research and development, hire new staff and provide more working capital to meet larger future orders.
As part of the transaction, the BGF has installed Richard Atkins as non-executive chairman at Sub10 Systems. Recruited through BGF’s talent network, Atkins has worked at IBM Global Services as well as holding chairmanships at private equity-backed companies.
Ned Dorbin, senior investment manager at the BGF, says that Sub10 has achieved its current growth through an ‘extremely experienced management team’.
‘BGF’s long-term equity finance is well-suited to technology companies’ investment plans, especially where the company is growing like Sub10 and where the business case often works best over extended time periods,’ he adds.
The deal is the first Devon business that the BGF has become involved with having injected £32 million into growth companies in the South West and South Wales.
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Stuart Broome, founder and CEO of Sub10, comments, ‘Many of the team here at Sub10 gave up secure jobs with the likes of Motorola to start a business that we were passionate about and one that we felt had significant potential for growth.
‘BGF’s investment will allow us to further develop our range of wireless products in line with customers’ demands whilst also funding an increase in our sales and marketing efforts to target larger customers and orders.’
Sub10 Systems currently exports 90 per cent of its products, with the majority of its sales in Eastern Europe, Russia and Turkey alongside the UK and Ireland.
The business recently joined a UKTI trade mission with 17 other UK SMEs to Pune, India so that it could meet various energy, IT and telecom companies.
See also: Our exclusive Business Growth Fund roundtable:
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- Capital expenditure for businesses post-investment
- Building out new products
- Video: Deciding when and how to take on backing
- Video: How acquisitions can accelerate growth
- The Business Growth Fund: Two years in numbers
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