Technology

Posted on October 11, 2017 by staff

Crowdfunding set to boost Birmingham tech firm

Technology

Birmingham tech firm Synapse Information is aiming to raise a minimum of £300,000 via crowdfunding to scale up its corporate management reporting platform.

The company says it plans to expand from a 30-strong workforce to 50-plus in the next two years by recruiting graduates that have studied in the West Midlands or grown up there.

Based at Innovation Birmingham Campus at Birmingham Science Park Aston, it will look to raise the funds on the Shadow Foundr platform.

“In the last three years, we have attracted some major customers and have a very healthy pipeline,” said CEO Brian Donnelly.

“We are fully supportive of the initiatives to champion the West Midlands and to put it back in its rightful place as the leading region of the UK.

“Basing the company in Birmingham is the best decision we made as it has allowed us to take advantage of all the region offers and to attract the highest calibre of staff.”

Regional Mayor Andy Street is supporting the West Midlands First programme, which was launched early in 2017 and is part of a skills initiative to retain talent in the region.

Synapse’s tech allows group companies to use their existing financial reporting systems to automate report production, reduce operational costs and improve data quality.

It claims to give clients first-mover advantage in a market that is estimated by Gartner to be worth more than $10 billion.

Blue chip customers include a high street bank and Swedish retailer.

Synapse’s growth has been funded to date by a number of backers including ART Business Loans, which provides access to finance for businesses in the West Midlands.

ART chief executive Dr Steve Walker has vast experience in helping enterprise access finance and has contributed to local and national government policy and served on a number of specialist groups, forums and boards, including the National Small Business Investment Task Force and the West Midlands Regional Finance Forum.

“Synapse is exactly the kind of company we need in the West Midlands,” he said.

“The team has decades of experience in software development and sales and every member demonstrates a real focus on solving the financial reporting problems so many corporates are currently experiencing.”