South West Ventures Fund Boosts VQ Communications’ Ambitious Growth Plans
21 April 2006
Exciting national and international growth plans are set to become a reality for a South West voice, video and data conference company following investment by South West Ventures Fund, which is managed by the YFM Group.
VQ Communications Limited has secured £250,000 from the fund, which was established to make venture capital available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with high-growth potential in the South West region.
The company, based in Chippenham, develops easy to use voice, video and data communications services which make conferencing a simple process and deliver productivity increases to organisations of every size.
Development of the VQ Conferencing platform, which uses ‘best of breed’ hardware and software products, commenced in 2001 and over the last six months the company has been successfully rolling out its product to banking, health and learning business sectors across the UK, Europe and USA.
VQ Communications aims to sign up more than 10,000 users in the first two years and to secure a significant share of the rapidly expanding market for web conferencing.
As well as significant personal investments from VQ Communication’s directors and shareholders, funding was also secured from external private investors. This, coupled with the capital from South West Ventures Fund, will be used to establish the VQ products in the national and international market.
“We have spent many years developing high quality products that give our clients an enhanced communications experience,” said Giles Adams, Chief Executive Officer of VQ Communications.
“We are delighted that South West Ventures Fund is backing both our product and our prediction that we can deliver substantial growth over the coming years. Our vision is to become the dominant communications service provider delivering Visual Communications services in the business to business market.”
John Baker, investment manager with YFM Group, managers of the South West Ventures Fund, said: “This latest deal on behalf of VQ Communications is a marvelous opportunity to provide financial backing to an experienced team with a proven, high quality product.
“This is an exciting sector with the potential to deliver communications in new and improved ways. The VQ products are at the forefront their field and the company is therefore extremely well placed to capitalise on growth opportunities.
“We look forward to working closely with VQ Communications and other companies in the region that have high growth potential.”
Osborne Clarke acted for VQ Communications and Robert Collier from Veale Wasbrough Lawyers acted for YFM Group.