The Robot Exchange secures £500k MEIF backing to drive robotic automation
The Robot Exchange has secured a significant £500k investment from leading private equity investment firm, Foresight Group, through the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (“MEIF”).
The Nottingham-based business supplies Robotic Process Automation (“RPA”) software and services to deliver efficiencies to businesses, helping them streamline and automate their processes via robotic infrastructure.
The funding will be used as growth capital, helping The Robot Exchange further innovate in the RPA sector – enabling greater investment in more technical solutions and increasing the volume of customers, markets and platforms that The Robot Exchange can serve. The Company plans to create an additional five jobs in the near term.
The Robot Exchange focuses primarily on driving efficiencies in the UK enterprise market in a variety of market sectors such as financial services, the lettings industry and wealth management sector.
In light of the transaction, Andy Wallace, CEO of The Robot Exchange,comments: “We were looking for an investor that understood our need to continue to innovate while increasing our revenues. Our software as a service revenue structure around RPA is unusual, and I feel will be a key low-cost investment for many additional, and larger, clients across all vertical sectors.”
“Our Robotic Process Automation technology delivers rapid automation of manual and menial tasks, benefitting businesses and their customers, and we deliver a full return on investment for our clients within the first year, which is highly unusual for any tech project. The MEIF funding will no doubt help us expand this further as we grow our services and enhance our workforce.”
Ray Harris, private equity director and principal of MEIF at Foresight Group, added: “We’re very pleased to be backing The Robot Exchange as it continues to develop its software. A combination of a great product and management team within a sector that should see significant growth makes for a compelling investment proposition.”
Sajeeda Rose, chief executive at D2N2 LEP said:”I’m delighted to see the Midlands Engine Investment Fund supporting innovative and ambitious businesses within our region. With the increasing importance of automation, it’s great to see Robot Exchange getting the support it needs to grow and help drive our region’s economic growth. ”
The Robot Exchange appointed a deal team from Smith Cooper Corporate Finance, led by Dan Bowtell, to obtain growth funding and negotiate the transaction through to completion.
Dan Bowtell, corporate finance partner at Smith Cooper, adds: “The funding attained from Foresight Group and MEIF will play a vital role in helping Andy and his team realise their growth ambitions, helping to digitise the way many businesses operate, boosting efficiency and streamlining operations.”
Legal advice was provided by Lipman Karas LLP.
The Midlands Engine Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.
