It’s a quartet of contented tech companies with Ultraleap, Clue Computing, Adludio and Pixie all grabbing some funding in Bristol and London.
With the metaverse on its mind, Ultraleap Holdings, an interface technologies provider in Bristol, has secured £60 million Series D investment from investors including Tencent.
Also in Bristol, Clue Computing, an SaaS investigation and intelligence platform, announced a £5 million investment from Frog Capital.
London-based adtech company Adludio got £4 million in a Series A follow-on investment from Mercia.
In London again, fintech startup Pixie is in good ‘elf’ with a £2.25 million raise to build an operating system for small accounting and bookkeeping teams.
A Giant Leap for Ultraleap
Ultraleap was founded in 2013 and provides hand tracking and mid-air haptics. If you didn’t know, haptics is the science of applying tactile sensation to human interaction with computers. From the Greek word ‘haptesthai’, meaning ‘to touch’.
The funding will be used to develop and commercialise its technologies for computing platforms.
Along with Tencent, “significant” new investors include British Patient Capital through its Future Fund: Breakthrough programme and CMB International. They are joined by existing shareholders Mayfair Equity Partners and IP Group.
Tom Carter, Ultraleap CEO, says: “The metaverse concept is not new to Ultraleap. It has always been our mission to remove boundaries between physical and digital worlds. The pandemic has accelerated the rise of the term as more people now understand the power of enhancing the physical world with digital elements.”
He adds: “For Ultraleap, this new era is not constrained to VR headsets. Like the internet, it is a reality we will interact with in all parts of life: at home, in the office, in cars, or out in public. Our aim with this Series D raise is to accelerate the transition to the primary interface – your hands – because there are no physical controllers, buttons or touchscreens in anyone’s vision of the metaverse.”
Ultraleap recently revealed its “fifth-generation” hand tracking platform, known as Gemini, which is used across various platforms, camera systems and third-party hardware. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 chipset and Varjo’s VR-3 and XR-3 headsets have shipped with Gemini built in.
Ultraleap employs more than 150 people across Europe, North America and Asia. Other notable clients include PepsiCo and Lego.
Give Us a Clue
Clue has been around for some time – having been established in 1987 by co-owners Clare Elford (CEO) and Thomas Drohan (CCO).
Its platform is used across government, private and non-profit sectors to investigate cybercrime, fraud, child protection, corruption, environmental crime, cheating in sports and more. Clients include Sellafield – the largest nuclear site in Europe – and the International Tennis Integrity Agency.
According to Clue, its platform enables organisations to prevent harm and secure justice by building intelligence and progressing investigations “in the face of evolving threats, increasing volumes of data, and the need for multi-agency collaboration”.
Elford explains: “The world of intelligence and investigations is no longer constrained to policing, there is much wider application. Organisations are under growing scrutiny, finding themselves more susceptible to threats and with a much greater duty of care towards the vulnerable.”
Drohan adds: “With this investment, we will strengthen the capabilities of the platform with further AI and ML capability, automation, data insights and business intelligence, while continuing to support and build our user community.”
Adludio’s American Dream
Set up in 2015, Adludio will use the funding for expansion in the US and “internationally”.
The firm provides campaigns that make use of mobile phone features for brands and advertising agencies. Adludio analyses data gained through previous campaigns to understand how mobile users engage with advertising and “inform creative decisions”, and has also developed its own technology for ad delivery. Clients include Jaguar Land Rover, Nike, Microsoft, Chanel and LVMH.
It currently employs around 60 staff worldwide and has existing offices in London, Hong Kong, Taipei and Singapore, New York and Los Angeles. Over the past 12 months it has also established a presence in other US cities including Chicago, Atlanta and Detroit.
Paul Coggins, Adludio’s CEO, states: “Our successful launch into the US market gives us a deep confidence that we have the right team, product, clients and strategy in order to accelerate our growth more deeply into this market.”
Pixie Feeling Spirited
Pixie is the newest of today’s tech bunch and was founded in 2019.
There have mercifully been no gremlins so far, as the sprightly/spritely firm explains: “This year has been an incredible journey for us as we went from a handful of customers to supporting over 1,100 accountants and bookkeepers worldwide in just a few months.”
The funding came from venture capital firms Triple Point Ventures, Seedcamp and MMC Ventures – who have previously backed businesses like Wise (formerly TransferWise) and Revolut.
Pixie says it will continue expanding its features, such as integrations and workflow automation. (There are no plans for playing Dungeons & Dragons.)
It currently has nine employees listed on LinkedIn and is expanding the team with three new hires starting next week. The startup is also recruiting for 11 other roles across customer success, marketing, design and product development.
