The North East Fund is a suite of venture capital and loan funds established to invest in regional businesses across North East England. The programme is delivered through five separate funds managed by independent FCA regulated fund managers.
The Newcastle-based cybersecurity company raised the capital to fund product development and expand its team.
"Mercia has an in-depth knowledge of the cybersecurity market. Having supported Melius from an early stage, it’s been rewarding to see its progress with each funding round. CyberSafe solves a security headache for SMEs and this latest investment will enable Richard and the team to establish it as a leader in its field."
The extended reality software provider raised £1m to support a major Middle East contract and expand its presence in the US.
"Luminous is used by the biggest brands in the industrial and manufacturing sectors who have the highest training standards. Our XR platform is paving the way for the adoption of Extended Reality training, providing a scalable, secure solution with many advanced features. The current funding round will now allow us to grow our sales and marketing as we expand globally."
The funding round was backed by Mercia Ventures, Northstar Ventures, and the North East Venture Fund.
"The support from our investors has allowed us to grow the business to the point where we now work with over 100 customers internationally including large pharma and biotech companies. This latest investment will further enhance our technology and underpin our ability to continue our rapid growth."
The funding round was managed by Mercia Ventures and will support lab relocation and team expansion.
"Formulation development is one of the big challenges faced by our customers and because of the limitations of current laboratory models, a lot of testing is done in animals. Apart from ethical issues, this is expensive, time-consuming and the results are often not replicated in human trials. Our unique model simulates the processes of digestion and absorption in a single lab system, giving customers vital data on how their formulations perform early in the development process and without the need for animal testing. We are excited to secure backing from Mercia and the NEVF to support our mission to make Aelius Biotech a trusted global leader in this field."
The funding was provided by the North East Venture Fund and managed by Mercia Ventures to support international expansion and product development.
"While it is still early days for the ‘metaverse’, VR and XR technologies have matured significantly and the launch of Apple’s first mixed-reality headset next year is expected to boost awareness and drive global demand. The funding received from Mercia puts Luminous in a strong position to capitalise on that."
