Tech firm aiming to raise cash to grow

 A TECHNOLOGY company which has  developed a secure smartphone app used to capture court-admissible video evidence in the insurance and utilities sectors is looking to raise £1.5m to expand into new sectors and to launch a consumer product.

The fund-raise will enable Liverpool-based YRfree to create 10 jobs at its Speke headquarters and accelerate growth of its eviid product.

The eviid app uses patent-pending technology to enable smartphones to record or live stream video in ‘evidence mode’ which can be used in court cases as it is verifiable.

Video recorded or streamed through eviid receives a tamper-evident digital ‘wrapper’ which makes it impossible for footage or meta data to be altered without leaving a trail.

Co-founded by Manchester tech entrepreneur John Ridd, YRfree has been developing its technology since 2012 as part of bespoke systems for enterprise customers in insurance, utilities, and facilities management.

YRfree has secured £1.75m in venture capital investment from the North West Fund and is on track to exceed £1m turnover in 2016 and a string of sizable client wins over the past few months has put the company in a strong position for growth.

The additional £1.5m in funding is now being sought from a range of funding partners.

Chief executive John Ridd said: “We’ve already deployed the technology behind eviid into some of the most demanding IT environments and in highly regulated industries.

“We’re confident that, as a business application, it will be a game-changer across insurance, facilities management, healthcare, emergency services, health and safety, logistics, media and many other sectors.

“A lot of time and money is spent verifying images and video footage – be it for an insurance claim or for a news story. Our technology gets round all that, and the potential applications are limitless. By raising additional funding, we will be able to make this technology available to more professionals in other fields where verifiable video footage for evidential purposes is essential.”

Prior to joining YRfree, Mr Ridd founded XTML in Manchester, providing business-critical internet hosting to businesses, and was CEO of NWIX Group, a national provider of IP Network Services.

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