A Cornish retail software company which works with leading high street brands has received £800,000 from investors and will now create jobs.
Truro-based Colateral has successfully completed its latest funding round and has bagged £200,000 from both the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF) and an existing corporate investor SMP Group Plc. The Future Fund, which supports innovative UK companies with growth potential, has also pitched in with £400,000.
Previously known as Swoop Applications, the company has recently rebranded as Colateral in order to improve market relevance.
Its “market-leading” Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform seamlessly manages instore marketing campaigns for retailers, cutting waste, improving communication with stores and helping to drive increased sales with better display compliance. It works with some of the UK’s leading retailers including Paddy Power, The Works and WH Smith.
During the coronavirus pandemic retailers have used Colateral to optimise and streamline instore marketing processes and minimise the production of unused print materials.
Latest product developments include the ability to send personalised visual instructions to store teams and to track and analyse display compliance with new campaigns.
Robert Salvoni, Colateral’s chairman, said: “When we first set out to develop our platform, it quickly became clear that instore marketing was one of the most common retail challenges without a good solution. Colateral is an end-to-end solution, capturing the needs of individual stores and tailoring campaigns to match.
What is CIOSIF?
The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF), supported by the European Regional Development Fund, is providing debt and equity finance, ranging from £25,000 to £2million, specifically to help small and medium sized businesses secure the funding they need for growth and development.
CIOSIF is operated by British Business Financial Services Limited, wholly owned by British Business Bank, the UK’s national economic development bank.
Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity.
“As the business continues to grow and expand, even in these unprecedented market conditions, we are delighted to have received additional funding from CIOSIF and our private investors, allowing us to continue with our recruitment drive, further developing our already strong and robust team.
“Recently our product development has focused on the implementation speed of the platform and we look to forward to strengthening this with this recent round of investment.”
Ralph Singleton, head of fund at The FSE Group, said: “We are pleased to be continuing to support an innovative Cornish company that is starting to gain traction with some of the largest retailers in the UK.
“Against the backdrop of the weak high street, Colateral offers its customers the ability to save costs, become more efficient, reduce waste and meet exacting governance requirements.
“Further product development and new customer wins will be key to future success. We were delighted to be able to provide a second funding round to further support Colateral on their journey.”
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The £40million Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund provides debt and equity finance from £25,000 to £2million to help growing small businesses across the region.
It has been established by the British Business Bank in partnership with the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and is operated by appointed fund managers The FSE Group.
Sarah Newbould, senior manager at the British Business Bank, said: “Investment from both CIOSIF and the Future Fund illustrates the support available to businesses in the region looking for equity investment, with this latest funding round helping Colateral with its ambitions to build and scale the business, as they continue to deliver value to customers in a sector that has been hard-hit by the pandemic.”
LEP non-executive director John Acornley, who chairs the CIOSIF Advisory Board, said: “Cornwall has a growing reputation for nurturing tech companies and Colateral is a great example of that. The fund’s latest investment follows a £600,000 equity stake last year and it’s vital that we continue to invest in growing businesses that create quality jobs and showcase UK innovation in global markets.”
CIOSIF is supported by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.
