Nottingham software firm lands Foresight investment
Foresight Group has made another “significant” investment from the Foresight Nottingham Fund into Nottingham-based software and sensor business Ekkosense.
Ekkosense is a Nottingham-based business specialising in developing and delivering expert software analytics, low cost innovative sensors and vendor agnostic thermal expertise for optimising the performance of data centres, server rooms, power transmission sites, solar plants and telecoms equipment. It includes Nottingham City Homes amongst its customers.
The investment, which is not being disclosed, will enable the business to continue to develop its software functionality and sensor technologies for further applications within the critical built environments, enabling its customers to reduce operational risk, benefit from energy savings and release unused or unavailable capacity. Mike Quinn and Matt Smith led the deal from Foresight’s Nottingham office. Quinn will join the Board as investor director.
The Foresight Nottingham Fund is a £40m fund that targets equity investments of up to £2m into growth companies, with a focus on Nottingham and the Nottinghamshire region.
Dean Boyle, CEO, Ekkosense said: “We’re excited by the opportunities that this extra capital provides Ekkosense in terms of accelerating the businesses’ software growth. Our EkkoSoft software platform has received fantastic customer feedback and we will be adding new functionality for our data centre customers and driving growth in other critical sectors via our breakthrough IoT technologies. We look forward to collaborating with Foresight’s experienced investment team to drive sales and improve key services in order to maintain a position at the forefront of the market.”
Quinn added: “The investment into Ekkosense is another exciting opportunity to support a high growth company in the heart of Nottingham. The team at Foresight has known the founders for some time, has tracked their progress, and been impressed with the growth achieved over the last 12 months. They are very well regarded in their field and the growing blue-chip customer base speaks for itself. We are looking forward to working with management to expand the software capabilities and maximise the exciting opportunities that exist for the company.”
Councillor Nick McDonald, Nottingham City Council added: “It’s great to see Foresight backing another Nottingham based technology business, particularly one based at UNIP, demonstrating the talent being cultivated in this innovative environment. The Ekkosense team are real innovators at the cutting edge of their field. The Foresight investment will support high value job creation as the business continues to scale up.”
Duncan Taylor from the Nottingham office of Nelsons provided legal advice to the Ekkosense. Foresight was advised by Richard Medd and Vicky Gaskell from Browne Jacobson and Julian Clough and Adam Foster from Mazars. PMSI also provided commercial due diligence.
