Member Article

Major investment for Gateshead software outfit to create 40 jobs

Gateshead’s AYO Digital has secured £400k of venture capital funding from regional investment company FW Capital, and plans to create another 40 jobs.

The money will be invested in AYO’s Northern Design Centre headquarters and also used in plans to open a London office.

FW Capital’s investment will help development of the firm’s ‘applied technologies’ division, which will launch two new products later this year.

AYO specialise in online software for SMEs, and services clients in the North East and globally.

The firm has assisted blue-chip brands such as Renault, Gentoo and AAF take their products and services online.

Kevin Reece, technical director at AYO Digital, said: “This investment is a major milestone for our business and signals the start of a very exciting era for our team. The first major initiative will be through our applied technologies arm, which specialises in the development and production of advanced technology solutions.

“We have two AYO product launches on the horizon which we expect will have national and potentially global uptake, which will help put AYO Digital and indeed the North-East firmly on the technology map.

“The other key area of expansion will allow us to increase our presence in the Capital, which we see as the next territory to drive our growth.

“We worked closely with the FW Capital team, which quickly came up with a funding package to suit our plans and we’re pleased to have completed the entire investment process in two months,” added Kevin.

The VC-backed agency is headed by managing director Rob Mathieson, who was recently shortlisted for the Entrepreneur Forum’s ‘emerging entrepreneur of the year’ award. This is the first external investment for the ambitious business that has grown organically since 2008.

The deal was completed by FW Capital’s investment executive Rob Jones. Commenting on the deal, he said: “AYO Digital is a dynamic technology business with an impressive client list and equally impressive management team with significant industry expertise and experience. We structured FW Capital’s investment to enable AYO Digital to invest in further product development and also expand their sales operations in key markets.”

Advisers to AYO Digital included Clive Owen Corporate Finance and Square One Law, Legal, while Watson Burton advised FW Capital on the deal. Ben Williamson, associate director at Clive Owen Corporate Finance, said: “AYO Digital has been a very exciting company to work with. The team are already turning heads having doubled sales in the last two years. The funding that FW are providing will help the business grow even faster.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .