North West business briefs: VU Compare; LANX; UVS; Tactical Solutions; mmadigital
VU Compare, a revolutionary Altrincham-based vehicle finance and insurance comparison site, has secured £70,000 in pre-seed capital to support product development and marketing, ahead of its official launch later this year.
Managing director, Tim Borthwick, said: “VU Compare is such an exciting proposition and one that myself and the team are exceptionally proud of. It promises to be a real market disrupter, offering a much more comprehensive suite of comparison facilities, compared to its nearest competitors. We’re thrilled to have raised such a significant amount of capital in a short period, which will make a huge difference as we ramp up development ahead of the website’s launch. It’s a testament to the product itself and our plans for the business going forward.”
The pre-seed funding has been vital in supporting the initial campaign activity ahead of the launch of the website. Among one of the early investors of VU Compare is Safe Hammad, CTO and co-founder of human resource consultancy, Arctic Shores, who has made his own private investment in the comparison site.
The website is set to be a one-stop shop, initially covering car leasing, insurance and Electric Vehicle (EV) comparison – to be followed shortly by a car buying marketplace with finance options. It says it will be the first of its kind to offer this mix of products and also the first to introduce comparison facilities for EV chargers.
With more than £19.5bn of consumer finance issued every year in the car market, VU Compare aims to simplify the car buying process and provide customers with the ability to compare a wide variety of finance sources to suit both their vehicle requirements and their personal circumstances.
Borthwick added: “Following the success of the pre-seed funding, we’re now looking for £500k investment for a 10% stake in the business. This will help the continuing growth of VU Compare by supporting our marketing strategy, including elements of PR, affiliate marking, paid social and search/SEO, as well as helping to improve and refine the platform itself.”
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Jacob Shorrock (LANX) with Kate Daley-McLean
Footwear brand LANX has announced a deal with Premiership Rugby side Sale Sharks that will see the club’s players and staff supplied with handmade brogues and sneakers.
LANX, which was founded in 2018 and is based in Whalley, Lancashire, delivered more than 100 pairs of exclusive, bespoke Sale Sharks shoes to Sale’s Carrington Training Complex earlier this week. International stars including Tom Curry, Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager are among those to receive a pair of Heywood brown brogues – re-made especially for the 2021/22 season – featuring an embossed Sharks logo to celebrate the relationship.
The deal means LANX and Sale will work together for a fourth consecutive season, but this year LANX will also support Sale Sharks women’s side, which has just completed a maiden season in the Premier 15s – the highest division of women’s rugby union in England. Following the launch of LANX’s first ever women’s range earlier this year, Sale Sharks Women’s Performance Lead and England World Cup winning England captain Katy Daley-McLean was one of the first players to try on the new sneakers, which also feature a Shark fin emblem.
LANX specialises in men’s and women’s business casual shoes using the finest leather and British sourced textiles. The brand also sells own brand T-shirts, socks, and other items. Founder Marco Vaghetti, said: “We’re very proud of our ongoing association with a brand like Sale Sharks. Our roots and our heritage are very much in the North of England and as a massive rugby fan, Sale is a club that fits well with the ethos and values of the LANX brand.”
Sale Sharks CEO, Sid Sutton, said: “I’m a massive fan of the LANX brand and we’re delighted to be linking up with them as a club for the fourth season in a row.”
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Steve Murphy
Burnley video wall technology experts, Ultimate Visual Solutions (UVS), has seen soaring demand for strategic government and blue light control room installations as the UK tightens up security and public protection.
UVS has completed 25 control room video wall projects for a wide range of administrative buildings, headquarters and prisons in the past 12 months. The work has ranged from upgrading to installing completely new systems, with security projects now accounting for 64% of UVS’s business, up from 46% two years ago.
Managing director, Steve Murphy, said: “The move away from covid lockdowns along with the various security threats that the country is facing has resulted in a large number of public sector organisations reviewing the monitoring systems that they have in place and either upgrading or opting for completely new installations.
“This is obviously something which will help protect both people and the country’s key infrastructure and buildings and the projects include new operations centres where multiple agency CCTV camera feeds, never previously available in one location, have been made available for use to increase the security of the public.”
In one large multi-Lucidity video wall controller installation alone during this period, UVS provided more than 500 channels of HD resolution IP decoding for multiple data sources, including workstations, collaboration inputs and IP video, which were encoded and distributed on the network for use in multiple rooms at the site.
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Tactical Solutions goes carbon neutral
Tactical Solutions, a field marketing agency which works with some of the UK’s biggest brands in the FMCG sector, has become a carbon neutral business. It has undergone a Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF) audit through ClimatePartner, which includes calculating emissions from sources such as energy and heating, business travel, office supplies and everything else considered part of daily business practice.
In partnership with ClimatePartner, the Chester-based business has joined more than 4,000 companies globally committing to eradicate or offset business CO2 emissions. The final CCF calculation provides insight to where carbon emissions, within business practices, can be improved or removed entirely through positive change.
Audits take place on a yearly basis to monitor business progress and identify additional areas for improvement. Tactical Solutions will offset 809,000 kg of its CO2 emissions – the equivalent carbon footprint yearly average of 114 people – by investing in recognised carbon offset projects in the Southern hemisphere, which also promote sustainable development and economic progress.
Managing director, Cathy Evans, said: “Maintaining the sustainability of our planet is a common purpose for each and every one of us – no matter your wider business objectives. We know that our colleagues and the customers that we work with are equally as passionate about making the world a better place.”
Tactical Solutions is also pending B Corp accreditation and hopes to be recognised with this award in 2022. The B Corp certification is held by more than 3,720 companies in around 150 different industries worldwide.
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Dez Derry
A Manchester-based law firm lead generator has secured undisclosed funding to support the growth of the business as it looks to strengthen its market position both organically and via acquisition. mmadigital says it already captures more online leads than any other provider in the UK legal marketplace and boasts more than 70 law firm clients.
Launched in 2016, mmadigital uses proprietary technology to both source and qualify high quality personal injury and clinical negligence leads for a panel of UK law firms. Leads are generated via inhouse consumer brands The Medical Negligence Experts and The Compensation Experts. The investment was led by London-based Rockpool Investments. Rockpool provides equity and loan financing to UK SME businesses and has invested more than half a billion pounds into the UK private equity market since inception. This investment marks its first foray into the legal services market.
CEO and founder of mmadigital, Dez Derry, said: “This investment from Rockpool marks another stage in our ambitious growth plans. Internet searches for the most common consumer claims are only set to grow and we currently capture more online leads than any other provider in this space as a result of our in-house technology solutions and highly trained staff. We are actively seeking acquisition opportunities, and this investment will enable us to take advantage of those deals as and when they come to market.”
Guy Ellis, partner at Rockpool, said: “mmadigital represents an exciting opportunity for our investors to support a fast growing lead generation business with a clear strategy for growth and a market-leading technology. We are very excited to be working with Dez and the rest of the leadership team to help support the business on its next phase of growth.”
mmadigital was advised by Frazer Hall, Knights, and Crowe UK. Rockpool was advised by Taylor Wessing, HMT, CIL, onefourzero, Catalysis Advisory and Claritas Tax. The transaction is subject to FCA approval.
