Software Firm Helps Public Sector Improve Performance Thanks to Investment from South West Ventures Fund
12th January 2006
A company that develops state-of-the-art performance management software for the
public sector has signed an investment deal with the £25 million South West Ventures
Fund, which is managed by YFM Venture Finance.
Taunton-based Covalent Software has secured £250,000 from the fund, which was set up to make venture capital available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with high-growth potential in the South West region.
Launched in 2003 by software consultant Peter McHugh, the company's flagship performance management system Covalent CPM is now used by nearly 50 councils across the UK.
This latest round of funding from the South West Ventures Fund will enable Covalent to develop its software for other areas of the public sector such as housing associations, hospital trusts and higher education.
Covalent is a simple to use, web-based software system that is designed to help organsiations monitor and report on performance targets. This is particularly important for public sector bodies that are subject to regulatory reporting regimes or have stakeholders who rely on targets to monitor perofrmance.
Covalent intelligently tracks relevant performance indicators and can provide evidence of actions taken based on these results, highlighting an organisation's capacity to improve the way it works.
Because the system is web-hosted, organisations using Covalent CPM do not need to instal additional IT equipment in order to use the system.
Peter McHugh, CEO at Covalent, said: "Our goal is to make Covalent CPM the leading performance management software solution in the public sector, by offering the best functionality at the best price. This additional funding from the South West Ventures Fund will help us achieve this goal and make our systems available to a wider range of organisations."
John Baker from the South West Ventures Fund, said: "This latest deal with Covalent represents an excellent opportunity to invest in a software company with a proven product and established customer base. We would like to thank the South West Angel and Investor Network (SWAIN) for bringing the deal to our attention."
The professional team involved in finalising this deal includes Robert Collier from Veale Wasbrough, Jonathan Williams of Bishop Fleming and James Evans from Foot Anstey, who acted for Covalent.