Octopus Capital for Enterprise Fund makes new £1m investment into VYRE Limited
09 July 2010
Octopus Ventures has announced an investment of £1 million from its £30 million Octopus Capital for Enterprise Fund (OCfE) into VYRE Ltd, a digital content and information management specialist. The investment represents the 12th deal Octopus has completed from its OCfE fund.
London based VYRE is one of the market leading providers in storing and categorising digital assets. Its core product, VYRE Unify, provides sophisticated content management systems designed to build cutting edge websites and increase marketing and branding efficiency, whilst driving down costs and speeding up the delivery time. Investment from Octopus will help facilitate VYRE’s plans for growth.
Paddy Woods Ballard, Associate Director at Octopus, commented: “VYRE is well positioned in a dynamic sector with strong growth opportunities. Its management team led by Andy Peters, are fully committed to driving and implementing VYRE’s strategic plans for expansion.
“It is a well-respected forward thinking Company, trusted by a wealth of the finest brands including Virgin Holidays, Diageo, Shell, IMG Media and Nokia. More recently, VYRE’s ability to manage websites on a grand scale was recognised when it successfully won business from sports specialist broadcaster, ESPN STAR Sports. We are delighted to be working alongside VYRE.”
Andy Peters, CEO of VYRE, commented: “We are very happy to have Octopus on board. When we were looking for investment, we explored traditional bank finance but most were simply not prepared to provide funds, and the few that were couldn’t offer the same level of flexible funding as Octopus.”
Investment from Octopus was made via its Octopus Capital for Enterprise fund, a UK government backed initiative, specifically aimed at helping small, growing businesses obtain fresh liquidity during the economic downturn, at a time when the banking industry has been reluctant or unable to lend.
Peters continues: “Investment from Octopus is only the tip of the iceberg. They have a wealth of experience and an impressive line up of portfolio companies that we’ve already begun to speak to, which we’re sure will lead to more business for VYRE moving forward.”
