In Brief: Fusion IP; WANdisco; Storetec; NG Bailey; Trutex

FUSION IP, which commercialises research from universities, has today announced that one of its portfolio companies, Absynth Biologics, has secured £850,000 in funding from new and existing investors.

Absynth is a UK biotechnology spinout company from the University of Sheffield. It has developed a distinctive, non-conventional approach to developing vaccines and therapeutic antibodies based on identifying novel, conserved bacterial antigens that are essential and also antibody-accessible. 
 
Absynth will use the investment to advance its Staphylococcus aureus  programme to key pre-clinical milestones. The investment will also complement funding secured from the Biomedical Catalyst – a funding stream administered by the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), to further develop Absynth’s product pipeline. This brings the total awarded to Absynth since 2012 to £175,000 in two grants from the TSB.
 
The North West Fund for Biomedical, managed by SPARK Impact, is investing £400,000 and Fusion IP is investing £450,000. Post-funding, Fusion will own a 42.84% equity shareholding in Absynth.
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Software group WANdisco has today said its core ALM products continue to deliver strong subscription and renewals growth. 

The Sheffield and California-based software group, which provides software for global enterprises to meet the challenges of big data and distributed software development, today announced an update for the three months ended 30 June 2013.
 
It reported that in the second quarter of the current financial year, subscription bookings reached a record level of $3.063m, representing a 66% increase year-on-year. When combined with bookings of $3.035m achieved in the first quarter, the company achieved total bookings for the first half of $6.098m – an 80% increase year-on-year.
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INTERNATIONAL document scanning and storage company Storetec has been chosen as the UK scanning partner for one of the leading transcriptions companies in the world.

Hull-based Storetec will be providing scanning services for Rapidcare, which specialises in the transcription of medical and legal documents. 

David Wilkinson, Storetec’s sales director, said: “It’s brilliant to have been chosen as Rapidcare’s UK scanning partner. Because of the work we already do in the health and legal industries, the services we’re providing are a great fit. We will be scanning and looking after confidential patient records as well as sensitive legal documents.”
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NG Bailey has launched a new five-year sustainability strategy.

One Approach will build upon the environmental targets achieved as part of the Ilkley-based business’s Target 2012 project and will impact upon every area of the business – putting both sustainability and responsibility at its heart.
It draws together six key areas – safety, the environment, people, customers, the supply chain and the communities in which the company works – with each one being spearheaded by three major commitments that the business has pledged to meet, and beat, by 2018.
NG Bailey comprises specialist electrical, mechanical, ICT, maintenance, engineering, building and facilities management companies.
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A YORKSHIRE businessman is looking to “drag” the schoolwear business out of the 1970s and expand his company.

Paul Quick owns a number of schoolwear shops in North and West Yorkshire, including Skipton and Brighouse and has now launched a new store, Trutex Schoolwear and More in Ilkley.

Mr Quick said: “We service 14 schools from Brighouse, but we are looking to expand, which is why we have moved into Ilkley. Our aim is to drag the schoolwear business out of the 1970s and into the 21st century, kicking and screaming if necessary.
 
“I had originally thought about expanding into Leeds, but when the chance of a shop in Ilkley came up, it was too good a chance to miss. It is a fantastic town, with a very strong retail sector. We currently supply 34 schools from Ilkley and Skipton and we want to build on this.”

The Trutex brand, from a top UK schoolwear provider, is being used under license for the store name.