Edinburgh video conferencing company wins £1m backing from investors

AN EDINBURGH company that provides video conferencing services to schools, colleges and universities has won £1 million backing from a leading independent infrastructure and private equity investment manager.

The support by Foresight will help Ajenta provide video collaboration software to education and public sector organisations, with a focus on creating real-time environments that improve communications and enable remote learning and working.

Its platform allows access from any browser, mobile device or room system and comes as organisations move to transition to remote structures and processes during the pandemic lockdown.

The business was founded in 2013 by John Wilson and Gavin Mckenzie who have each spent 20 years managing audio visual and enterprise software development, sales and deployment.

Ajenta offers a range of software and hardware products, creating collaboration between geographically distanced classrooms, learning spaces and meeting rooms.

It is claimed to be the only video collaboration platform on the Janet network, which is the high-speed network for the UK education and research community as well as the Swan public sector network in Scotland, connecting schools, local councils, health boards and government.

Foresight’s investment will help the company accelerate its growth by building the team, expanding the user base and further enhancing its software.

It is the fifth investment made by the £20m Foresight Scottish Growth Fund, which is financed by the Scottish Growth Scheme through a combination of Scottish Government funds and the European Regional Development Fund.

Colin Rutherford has also joined the company as chairman with Mark Sutherland appointed as a non-executive director.

Mr Rutherford is a director of Teachers Media International, a global provider of multi-media professional development and accredited training services, while Mr Sutherland founded G2G3, the employee engagement and business simulation software provider, which was acquired by Capita in 2013.

Mr Wilson, chief executive of Ajenta, said: “Foresight has an excellent track record in supporting software and hardware businesses and is committed to seeing Scottish companies flourish and fulfil their potential.”

Graeme Mckinstry, investment manager at Foresight, said: “The business was already operating at scale before the onset of Covid-19 and has worked hard to support its customer base over the lockdown period as they have transitioned to a remote working environment.”