Category Archives: Startups World

Bango – direct carrier billing for services such as games and music downloads

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bango, cambridge, mobile payments

Shares in Cambridge UK technology company Bango have rocketed more than 30 per cent in 24 hours as the new mobile game Pokemon Go hit the UK and caused a stir in the industry globally.

Bango CEO Ray Anderson speculated that it could prove a “tens of billions of dollars” game.

What is certain is that, even taking the most conservative estimates for Pokemon Go sales, they will add many millions to Bango’s bottom line according to seasoned industry observers.

That’s because Bango’s platform is used by the world’s major players to deliver direct carrier billing (DCB) for services such as games and music downloads.

One observer blogged: “Tens of billions seems a bit far fetched. Anyway let’s take $10 billion. If Direct Carrier Bill is 10 per cent and Bango takes 40 per cent of that market that’s $400m – not far off triple Bango existing end user spend.”

Bango’s platform is being used by all the world leaders in the space – chiefly Google, Amazon, Samsung and Microsoft – and is in mass-saturation territories such as Indonesia – where it has the DCB monopoly – the US, Australia, India, Canada and others – all prime territories for Pokemon Go.

While Google is banned in China, that country is another massive market which Bango can exploit through other partners. I also understand that Bango is about to conquer the huge Mexican market.

Once children start signing up for the game under pre-paid and secured licences under strict parental guidance, Anderson’s estimate of a tens of billion dollars revenue haul for Pokemon Go creator, American corporation Niantic, might move centre screen.

Pokemon Go was available in the States, Australia and some areas of Europe and gamers found a way of opening up the UK market. Now – according to information received by Business Weekly today – the enormous Chinese marketplace has caught the bug and young people are already using it there.

Bango’s share price has gone from 60p at the time it acquired American business BilltoMobile in May to 77p a share at the time of writing. It shot up 30.69 per cent to 75.80 yesterday and continued heading north to 77p today.

Anderson has previously told Business Weekly that it has created big-name partnerships with world leaders that will massively increase revenues.

The acquisition of BilltoMobile, the US-based carrier billing services of Danal Inc, for an initial consideration of $3.5m, could add as much as $80m to the bottom line.

That will be dwarfed if Pokemon Go sales evolve the way Anderson believes they will.

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Coalesce Product Development – drug delivery devices

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Coalesce Product Development - drug delivery devices

Another star is twinkling brightly in Cambridge UK’s world-leading galaxy of product design consultancies – providing innovation for global science & technology market leaders.

Coalesce Product Development, headed up by former Sagentia man Dave Ahern, has expanded into significant office and laboratory space at Edinburgh House on the St John’s Innovation Park. The business incubated within St John’s Innovation Centre and has now agreed a five-year lease for space at Edinburgh House totalling 3,796 sq ft in a deal negotiated by Savills.

Cambridge has created a cluster of tech product design consultancies that even the US cannot match. In fact US, Asian and European clients beat a path to Cambridge’s door to turn raw IP into prototypes and marketable products.

Coalesce specialises in drug delivery devices. Engineer Ahern splits his time between working on projects and running the business and has assembled a strong team of engineers. His particular expertise is in respiratory drug delivery devices, built up while working on and managing dry powder inhaler projects for, amongst others, Dey Pharmaceuticals, Chiesi, Novartis and Vectura.

He began his career designing bespoke bomb-disposal robots and then mice and trackballs for high volume manufacture in the Far East. From Logitech, he moved into consultancy with Scientific Generics (now Sagentia) and his focus changed mainly to the medical sector and eventually to drug delivery devices.

Over the past two decades, both as an independent consultant and then at Coalesce Product Development, he has worked on a variety of medical devices, ranging from a gamma knife for Elekta, thoracic surgery equipment for Covedien, an arthroscopic surgical device for Gyrus Medical and a hand-held magnetic probe for sentinel node biopsy procedures for Endomag.

Science Group plc, Sagentia’s parent company, is meanwhile hiring experienced operator Andrew Diston from fellow Cambridge consultancy Medicom Innovation Partner. Diston was also formerly at Cambridge Consultants and has been appointed group science & technology director and a member of the group executive board with effect from September.

He is currently executive VP at Medicom, where he has had global responsibility for the commercial development of the Danish and Cambridge based business. Medicom specialises in designing and developing advanced drug delivery and connected health systems. Prior to Medicom, he spent most of his career at Cambridge Consultants – ultimately as head of the medical technology design and development business.

Science Group comprises four operating businesses, the original and largest being Sagentia, the Cambridge-based science and technology consulting company.

Recent acquisitions by the group have expanded operations into additional vertical markets providing new opportunities for growth. The role of group science & technology director engages the science, engineering and innovation capabilities of the operating businesses to open up new market opportunities.

Science Group has just posted interim results for the six months to the end of June and increased revenue to £17.7 million from £14.1m in the first half of 2015. The adjusted operating profit of £2.5m compared to £2.4m last time. The company reports net cash and freehold property assets of £31.3m, ahead of this stage last year.

Coalesce Product Development – drug delivery devices

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: Edinburgh House on St John’s Innovation Park

Coalesce Product Development – drug delivery devices

StretchSense – IoT of clothes & smart clothing

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This could be the future of smart clothing in this partnership between New Zealand’s tech and Japan’s market dominance

StretchSense

When we think of “wearables” we usually imagine smart gadgets, such as the FitBit, Apple Watch, or even the ill-fated Google Glass. The traditional approach of imbuing accessories such as watches, eyewear or the like with sensors and a CPU might very well be the way of the future, but wouldn’t it be cooler if a wearable could tell you more than just your heart rate and distance covered? As a workout fanatic dogged by injuries, I’m just as interested (if not more) in proper body alignment, posture, and the overall quality of my movement, getting information like how fast is my heart pumping. The ability of a single gadget attached to my wrist to provide that feedback is virtually nil since several kinds of data from numerous different limbs, joints, and muscles need to be accurately collected without hindering the movement that is supposed to be measured.

An alternative approach would be to integrate flexible sensors directly into clothing or sports apparel, allowing them to move with the body. That is precisely what StretchSense, a company from New Zealand, has done. Founded in 2012 as an offshoot of the Biometics Lab at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, they have developed a range of soft sensors that measure pressure, stretch, bend, and shear, and can be interwoven with most kinds of fabric. They have also recently received Series A funding from StartToday, owner of Japan’s largest online retailer ZOZOTOWN. Although StretchSense provides sensors to more than 200 R&D partners in over 28 countries worldwide, this partnership could provide the right circumstances for integrating the Kiwi-developed sensors into retail apparel and making it available to a wider audience.

StretchSense CEO Ben O’Brien, with a fabric stretch sensor

StretchSense CEO Ben O’Brien, with a fabric stretch sensor

 

Talking to Geektime about the announcement, Head of Marketing Shin Jeong Park said, “Today the trend is for many fashion and tech-oriented companies to join forces to make wearables that work really well and look really good.”

Its partnership with StartToday would put the company in an excellent position to tap into Japan’s $100 billion plus e-commerce retail market. Until now, its most mainstream retail application has been the integration of its sensors in Heddoko’s 3D motion-sensing sports garment technology, a niche company targeting professional athletes and coaches. With a retail price of $499, that is well beyond what the average fitness customer is prepared to spend. Hopefully, this new partnership will produce more affordable solutions that come with a dedicated application, like Heddoko, or will make the data available for third-party developers to access and integrate into already existing fitness trackers and apps.

Aside from taking an alternative approach to the whole concept of wearables, StretchSense also promises to provide a solution to one of the most dogged problems with wearables: power supply. One of the main challenges when it comes to wearables is the fact that there is no reliable alternative to batteries, which cannot be too large since wearable gadgets are small by necessity, and the smaller the battery the more limited the functionality is. However, wearables powered by body energy – be it kinetic or thermal – would be the ideal solution, the Holy Grail if you will, enabling the making of “disappearables”, devices that are integrated into the clothing we wear and require neither charging nor replacing.

Energy Harvesting Kit

Energy Harvesting Kit

 

StretchSense has one solution called the StretchSense Energy Harvesting Kit, and it turns the power dissipated while walking or running into electricity by using a compression mode soft generator that is placed underfoot and generates 1mW of power when compressed at a rate of 0.5 – 1.5 Hz. An obvious problem with this solution is that it requires regular compression unless combined with an external battery, something which not all activities involve.

StretchSense is developing a power generation solution involving stretch mode generators, but it is an open question when either of these two solutions will be affordable enough for mass-market use. Energy harvesting solutions for wearable devices are still something that only exists in labs and R&D centres, but hopefully, StretchSense will be able to put the StartToday cash injection to good use and make those smart, charge-less and affordable disappearables us exercise junkies dream about a reality.

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The article New Zealand startup StretchSense & Japan’s StartToday announce partnership to create the IoT of clothes first appeared in Geektime

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StretchSense

 

Ayla Networks – IoT platforms for OEMs

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Ayla’s big round shows there are no doubts about the direction of smart homes among investors

Ayla Networks

Santa Clara-based IoT company Ayla Networks announced a US$39 million early Monday morning, a Series C round co-led by design manufacturer 3NOD and Ants Capital.

“Ayla is fast becoming one of the leading IoT platforms for OEMs that are manufacturing and shipping IoT products globally,” said David Friedman, CEO and co-founder of Ayla Networks since 2010. Before then Friedman served as VP Business Development at ZeroG Wireless.

Ayla focuses heavily on smart homes: appliances, water heaters and softeners (HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) and home fire products. They’ve racked up a number of clients including Fujistu General, Hunter Fan and Ozner. They claim to have doubled their number of employees, but didn’t provide an exact figure for people under head.

Other new investors included Acorn Pacific and Mitsui. Returning investors include Cisco Investments, Voyager Capital, Crosslink Capital, International Finance Corp. (IFC, a division of World Bank Group), Linear Venture, SAIF Partners/Oriza Ventures and SJF Ventures.

Ayla-Networks-offices-in-Santa-Clara

Ayla Networks offices in Santa Clara

“With IoT clouds operating in multiple regions worldwide, and with major customers continuing to expand their Ayla-powered IoT product lines,” Friedman continued, “Ayla believes that the ‘when’ of the IoT is right now—and that Ayla Networks is well positioned to help manufactures take advantage of growing market for connected products.”

The smart home market has impressive projections and might be worth approximately US$121.73 billion by 2022 according to Markets and Markets. Fifteen percent of that market will in the Asia-Pacific region according to the same analysis, but 60 per cent in North America and 20 per cent in Europe.

The market includes some big names like Siemens AG in Germany, Schneider Electric in France, Honeywell and Acuity in the United States. Comcast, Time Warner and Nest Labs are also big participants in the market.

Ayla plans to expand abroad, building on their move to Japan earlier this year, plus new offices in Taiwan and manufacturing and growing IoT hub Shenzhen near to Hong Kong. Yin Min, the managing partner at Ants Capital running point on Ayla, pointed directly at China where they have been granted a license as an Internet Content Provider (ICP).

“The IoT market is like a rocket ship, and we’ve seen it gather speed rapidly in recent months,” said Friedman. “Manufacturers that a year ago simply wanted to build a connected product are now discovering the business transformation possible through harnessing the data generated by IoT products.”

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Image Credit: Ayla

The article IoT startup Ayla scores US$39M investment to expand in Japan, China and Taiwan was first published on Geektime.

The post IoT startup Ayla scores US$39M investment to expand in Japan, China and Taiwan appeared first on e27.

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Owlstone – cancer breathalyser

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Owlstone Billy Boyle

Owlstone Medical in Cambridge has closed a $7 million fundraising to commercialise its disease breathalyser.

The business was spun out of parent company, Owlstone Inc, by co-founder Billy Boyle to develop and commercialise the breath test for use in clinical diagnostics and precision medicine with applications in cancer, inflammatory and infectious disease.

The investment round was led by UK-based Medtekwiz Advisory and will be used to fund ongoing clinical trials of the breathalyser in lung and colon cancer screening.

Owlstone Medical was created to leverage proprietary and proven Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS) technology for the advancement of the breath test device.

FAIMS measures volatile organic compound (VOCs) metabolites in patient’s breath or bodily fluids which are specific to disease. Measurement of VOC biomarkers allows diagnosis of disease at a very early stage, to enable more effective treatment and better patient outcomes.

Owlstone Medical is managed by a highly experienced team and supported by world-renowned experts in lung cancer diagnosis. Billy Boyle, the CEO, is an engineering graduate from Cambridge University and one of the original co-founders of Owlstone Inc, which was spun out of the university in 2004 and has raised $28 million in investment and won over $25m in engineering grants – largely from the US Military.

Boyle said: “Securing this funding is further validation of our technology, and we are excited to progress our vision to revolutionise the detection and diagnosis of cancer, infectious and inflammatory diseases.

“The breathalyser we are developing provides clinicians with a highly sensitive, non-invasive diagnostic, which will enable early detection and improve patient outcomes.

“We are also working with pharma partners to develop non-invasive companion diagnostics to better match patients to treatment for emerging personalised therapies.”

Regius Professor Christofer Toumazou, advisor to Medtekwiz and recently appointed to the Owlstone Medical Board, said: “I am delighted to have joined the board and to be involved at such a milestone in the development of the Company.

“With the investment, I look forward to seeing a step change in the way serious disease can be diagnosed and monitored – particularly for colon and lung cancer, which are two of the biggest cancer killers worldwide.”

The potential of the technology to enable rapid detection of disease, without the need for costly, invasive medical procedures, saw Owlstone Medical win the Business Weekly Astra Zeneca-MedImmune Life Science Innovation award. That was mid-March and in the previous month the company won an NHS contract for STRATA, adapting the breathalyser technology for precision medicine and companion diagnostics.

Prior to that, it received a $1.4 million NHS contract for LuCID (Lung Cancer Indicator Detection) to use FAIMS technology in the early detection of lung cancer.

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: Billy Boyle

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Sepura – communications technology

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sepura, cambridge, communications

Cambridge UK communications technology business Sepura has backed a thumping set of full-year results by revealing that it has conditionally raised £65 million through a placing of shares.

The share placing raises £15m more than Sepura felt it might seek when it announced liquidity issues in April.

It will ease cashflow but also help underpin bold expansion plans, notably in the United States. The fundraising was clearly nailed before the shock Brexit vote. CEO Gordon Watling said: “The fundraising announced today will significantly strengthen our balance sheet and provide the right capital structure to support our growth strategy.

“We see significant opportunities to build on recent success in the global transport sector such as New York City Transit, as well as grow our business in North America – the world’s largest PMR market. We also expect FY17 and beyond to benefit from our recent investment programmes.

“We have revised our business model and our financial focus is firmly now on cash conversion, improving operating margins and increasing our revenue visibility with contracted and recurring business. The board believes that the group is well positioned to exploit key growth markets.”

Sepura group revenue was hoisted by €58.5m to €189.7m, which included a €44.7 million contribution from the acquired Teltronic business which has substantially boosted sales in the US and Latin America.

The 250,000 devices shipped in the year was up 15 per cent on the previous 12 months; the company has a record-breaking order backlog of €75 million. The pre-tax loss of €19m compared to a 2015 profit of €16.7m as a result of an aggressive acquisition strategy in the past 12 months.

Watling said the company and its lending banks have also agreed to make certain commercial and other amendments to its existing facilities agreement which will be implemented conditional on completion of the capital raising.

A general meeting of the company has been convened for July 15 to ratify the fundraising.

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e-Go aeroplanes – ultra-lightweight hi-tech single seater plane

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e-Go aeroplanes - ultra-lightweight hi-tech single seater plane

One of the most novel technology ventures in Cambridge’s distinguished business history is flying high on the wings of goodwill and innovation. e-Go aeroplanes has gone into serial production of its ultra-lightweight, hi-tech single seater plane after a high profile launch at its Conington headquarters north west of Cambridge.

It has designed and is now manufacturing very lightweight, hi-tech aircraft using the new freedoms from regulation offered by the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

Investors and supporters gathered at a launch event where CEO William Burnett (pictured above) officially became the first buyer of the aircraft. Now the young company is targeting potential customers on both sides of the Atlantic. Cambridge investors have been instrumental in supporting the project to date including lead backer Herman Hauser, the Cambridge Capital Group and The Angel CoFund with British Business Bank backing. SyndicateRoom support resulted in crowdfunding investment.

Business Weekly understands that e-Go aeroplanes will be seeking to raise an additional £1 million growth capital in the not-too-distant future, hopefully from existing investors but if necessary dipping into a pool of new backers who have flagged up their potential interest.

e-Go aeroplanes is promoting a distinct usp in that the aircraft is fun to fly with very low cost of ownership – just £15 per flying hour when the accepted norm is £150 for leisure aircraft.

Previous rounds of funding allowed the company to build a prototype, which first flew in October 2013. Additional funding was raised to complete over 100 test flights and refine the aircraft prior to production.

Under a strict testing regime, the design has been honed to meet industry and self-imposed standards, the latter with an eye on the Light Sports Aircraft category in the US.

Tooling and jigs have been created, and the first production e-Go aeroplanes aircraft is in the hands of William Burnett as the first customer. With Research & Development complete, a significant milestone has been reached.

Following what had been a staged and measurable approach, e-Go aeroplanes will shortly be looking for additional investment to allow it to enter the next phase – full production.

The aircraft is unusual; it is breathtakingly simple in design, meeting an exacting specification in the Single Seat De-Regulated (SSDR) microlight aircraft category that is both exciting and attracting worldwide attention.

The market niche for e-Go aeroplanes, which sits between high-end and budget, is readily identifiable. The aim is not to compete head on with other aircraft that follow the more traditional 2-seat, side-by side design but to be different – to use materials such as pre-impregnated carbon fibre, processes, and technologies that have been well developed and refined in other fields such as automotive and Formula 1 and apply them to aviation.

Powered by a UK manufactured Wankel rotary engine of just 30hp, and using standard un-leaded petrol, the aircraft is economical and can be transported in its own trailer for owners who do not wish to pay for hangarage at a local airfield.

Concentrating initially on the 60,000 pilots licensed to fly in the UK, the aim is to sell aircraft into the US market which has over 10x as many pilots. US certification will also facilitate sales opportunities elsewhere in the world. Significant UK interest has already been shown from individual pilots and those seeking to share an aircraft in a syndicate.

The aircraft is marketed as a ’fun flying machine’, and those pilots who have had the opportunity to fly the prototype truly enjoy the experience and are thrilled by its performance.

The chief test pilot, Keith Dennison, demonstrated the agility and manoeuvrability of the aircraft at the recent launch of the first production aircraft. He said: “‘I have had the pleasure to fly many types of aircraft around the world – but this is really a fun flying machine. It has a fighter-like feel with a turn rate that’s more fun than a fast jet.”

e-Go aeroplanes – ultra-lightweight hi-tech single seater plane

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e-Go aeroplanes – ultra-lightweight hi-tech single seater plane

Soracom – a communication platform for developers of connected devices

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SoracomSoracom, a Tokyo-based startup that provides a communication platform for developers of connected devices, announced today that it has raised a 2.4 billion yen (about $22 million) Series B from World Innovation Lab, Infinity Venture Partners, and other investors, to enter the United States and other markets. Read More

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ThisIsMe – online verification

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South African online verification startup ThisIsMe has raised US$2.5 million in funding from private investors, and is planning to use the cash to expand into African and international markets.

Launched in 2014, ThisIsMe, which is available on iOS and Android, allows a user to prove their identity and that they are still alive in order to prevent fraud such as identity theft. It has a focus on compliance related to the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) and the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) in the financial space.

The service verifies an individual’s identity to other individuals, businesses, financial institutions and regulators, by using links to South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs and major banks.

Having secured the US$2.5 million funding round, ThisIsMe is now setting its sights on expanding into African and international markets this year.

“We are planning to enter at least three different regions this year and progress in terms of expanding into two of these countries – Australia and New Zealand – is very advanced,” said ThisIsMe chief executive officer (CEO) Mark Chirnside.

“On the African front, we are in talks with a potential partner in Nigeria. Nigeria represents a particularly demanding market, and confidence among ThisIsMe staff is high that their processes will aid Nigeria’s specific challenges.”

The startup also has plans to expand to the United States (US) and Europe, while since its launch over 20 corporates have signed up to use ThisIsMe’s solutions to verify the identities of their clients.

“This includes two banks, one from the ‘top five’ in South Africa; three insurance companies; fund managers; and human resources businesses,” Chirnside said.

“Currently, South Africans are using the ThisIsMe app for FICA purposes and to avoid the hassle of paperwork and duplicated effort in this regard. They are also actively verifying each other using the early releases of our mobile apps. In the long-term, however, I hope to see this technology become ubiquitous in South Africa and even be used for hassle-free voting online one day.”

The post SA online verification startup ThisIsMe raises $2.5m funding appeared first on Disrupt Africa.

ThisIsMe

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ThisIsMe

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Magicbricks – real estate portal

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Properji provides users with information on a project, including price point analysis, builder review, location analysis, ROI, appreciation potential as well as risks

Magicbricks - real estate portal

magicbricks Gurgaon office

India-based real estate portal magicbricks.com, which has operations in India and 14 other countries, has acquired Properji.com, a Bangalore-based property listing site.

The transaction details remain undisclosed.

This would help magicbricks to strengthen its consumer proposition by offering in-depth information and analysis of projects that help consumers to choose the project that best suits their needs.

“Given our reach and scale, we would be taking this platform to six metros including Bangalore. We would like to prepare report for 10,000-15,000 projects, both completed and under-construction, having great demand,” Magic Bricks CEO Sudhir Pai told PTI news agency.

In photos: India’s magicbricks is building a fun office

Started in August 2013 by Priya Maheshwari, Guruprasad Bangle and Naveen Galithoti, Properji claims to be a pro-buyer portal that provides users with unbiased reports and reviews about builders and their projects. The startup gives them all the information on a project, including price point analysis, builder review, location analysis, ROI, appreciation potential as well as risks.

Properji tries to inject transparency into real estate transactions in India. The site displays ratings of builders and projects, and also assists users with basic legal review after agreement, civil & architectural review.

Started in 2006, magicbricks provides a platform for property buyers and sellers to locate properties of interest and source information on the real estate space. The company provides services in over 60 cities across India, in addition to 14 foreign countries, including the US, the UK, Dubai, Spain, Thailand, Thailand, Singapore, South Africa and New Zealand.

India’s online real estate space has been going through a tough time of late. A few months ago, SoftBank-backed Housing let go off 600 people. Classifieds company Quikr, which recently merged with CommonFloor, laid off 150-200 employees of the real estate portal a few days ago, according to various reports.

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Magicbricks – real estate portal