Sky’s the limit for Scarborough-based cloud computing provider thanks to funding boost

A leading internet technology service provider is expanding its cloud computing capabilities after becoming the first business in Scarborough to receive an investment from Finance Yorkshire.

Save9 provides expert technical services and solutions including web development, telecoms and ‘cloud computing’ - a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage, and process business applications and data.

Managing Director Steve Bromham said: “Our Cloud WorkSpace product enables businesses to run all their software online and store company data on secure internet servers. This enables firms to do away with costly software purchases or upgrades and space-consuming IT hardware. It can save a great deal of money, allowing businesses to grow much faster.”

Now Save9 itself has received funding help to grow its own business much faster, thanks to a business loan from Finance Yorkshire.

Save9 - whose clients include Dale Power Solutions, Apollo Resorts and Leisure, Queen Mary University London and all five West Yorkshire Councils - first heard about Finance Yorkshire after attending one of the organisation’s workshops in Scarborough and finding out more about how they help SMEs across Yorkshire and the Humber.

Steve said: “Following a period of self-funding over 18 months, where all our resources and efforts went into developing the company ourselves, we realised we needed some outside investment to ensure we have a durable competitive advantage and Finance Yorkshire were the obvious choice.

“Finance Yorkshire invested in Save9 alongside Cellular Solutions Holdings and Business Enterprise Fund. Finance Yorkshire appealed to us because their focus is helping businesses to grow, that’s their primary objective.

“We also really appreciated the support we received and felt we had a strong point of contact in Investment Manager Ian Atkinson who helped us review our business plan and strategy and identify our core focus for the cloud computing project.”

Save9 has now set up data-centre hosting in Germany and the UK that is classified as Tier III - an industry benchmarking standard that indicates the highest levels of service availability and disaster recovery are maintained.

“This means if the UK data-centre fails the German one acts as back-up, offering reassurance for our customers,” said Steve.

The company is enhancing its current cloud computing offer to business customers thanks to the funding – its latest version of Cloud WorkSpace supports iPad, Android and Blackberry Playbook users.

Save9 is also looking into adding social networking capabilities as well as building a distribution channel.

“We need to keep continually innovating in order to develop the next cutting-edge cloud computing products and the funding will help us to do that,” added Steve.

The deal was introduced to Finance Yorkshire by Martin Bell of Red Sky Corporate Services who helped the company with its application.

Finance Yorkshire Investment Manager Ian Atkinson said: “Save9 is a strong example of the wide variety of creative and dynamic home-grown companies we have across Yorkshire and the Humber.

“They were also in a similar position to many in that self-funding can sometimes only get a business so far – SMEs need help to meet the gaps in funding required for development and that’s where we come in.

“We hope the success of Save9 will continue to spread the word to other North Yorkshire businesses about what Finance Yorkshire can do to assist their growth.”

Finance Yorkshire provides seedcorn, loan and equity linked investments, ranging from £15,000 to £2m to help a range of small and medium sized businesses to meet their funding requirements for growth and development.

The project is supported financially by the European Union. It has attracted £30million investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of Europe’s support for the region’s economic development through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme, £15million from Yorkshire Forward’s Single Programme, and £45million match funding from the European Investment Bank.

For more information about Finance Yorkshire, please visit www.finance-yorkshire.com or ring 0845 649 0000

Note: this news article is from Finance Yorkshire’s previous fund. Read more about Finance Yorkshire