Scottish startup Cyan Forensics, which develops digital forensic technology to help law enforcement catch criminals faster, has closed a £900,000 investment round led by Mercia Fund Managers, bringing its total funding to nearly £1.5million since it was founded in 2016.
Edinburgh-based Cyan Forensics’ technology finds time-critical digital evidence in minutes instead of days, helping police in highly sensitive investigations such as child sexual exploitation and counter-terrorism. The company is currently working with customers across law enforcement agencies which are seeing success using the technology operationally.
The company recently won an award from the UK government for its pioneering work, which recognised Cyan Forensics’ collaboration in delivering practical solutions to safeguard the nation.
This latest funding round saw American private investor Don Macleod, a director of Broadcom and former CEO of National Semiconductor, join existing investors Mercia Fund Managers and The Scottish Investment Bank, which both provided funding following their initial investments.
Cyan Forensics, which operates in a market that is expected to grow at 15.9% CAGR, to $9.68billion by 2022, has achieved significant progress with its range of digital forensics products and now has a team of 10 highly skilled professionals, including former law enforcement and military professionals.
Ian Stevenson, CEO of Cyan Forensics, said: “This latest round of investment will enable us to take full advantage of the market opportunities here in the UK and start developing our business internationally, as well as exploring other opportunities for our technology in cyber security. The whole team is excited about the success we’re seeing in our first operational deployments and the opportunities in front of us to contribute to public safety.”
Paul Devlin, Investment Manager at Mercia, said: “We’re delighted to continue to support Cyan Forensics. This is the latest seed investment, having first backed the team as a spinout from Edinburgh Napier University, they are making excellent progress as they begin to scale up. We believe the business has the potential to make a real difference to the speed at which agencies are able to investigate highly sensitive crime using its innovative forensic technology. The customer base of government and law enforcement agencies is highly impressive and places the company in a great position for future growth.”
Kerry Sharp, Director of the Scottish Investment Bank, said: “Scottish Enterprise has supported Cyan Forensics from an early stage and it is great to see the progress that has been achieved to develop and commercialise new technology in the area of digital forensics. This round of investment will provide the capital to start expansion internationally and into adjacent markets. We look forward to continuing to work with the company, both from an investment perspective and through our account management support, to deliver its long-term growth ambitions.”
About Cyan Forensics
- Cyan Forensics is a cutting-edge software startup, born in Scotland. It helps law enforcement tackle some of the gravest crimes, including child protection and counter terrorism cases
- The ground breaking software finds illegal content on suspect computers 20x faster than existing techniques, freeing up police time and speeding up investigations. This not only increases operational efficiency in investigations, but reduces potential risk of further offending or the suspect fleeing
- Cyan Forensics’ software can be used on-scene or in the laboratory by analysts or first responders to triage suspects’ devices, helping to get initial and crucial evidence to investigators fast
- Cyan Forensics’ software is currently used in UK policing, where it has already received exceptional feedback
- The technology is the first of its kind and has been designed by experts in the field who understand the complexity and needs of investigating forces. It builds on three years of cutting-edge research at Edinburgh Napier University and has been proven to deliver results 20x faster than the current industry techniques
About Mercia Fund Managers
Mercia Fund Managers provides both equity and debt finance to small businesses based in the UK regions. The Group has more than 400 businesses in its portfolio, a strong record including 11 IPOs and manages circa £400.0million of third party funds, including Mercia EIS Funds.
- Mercia Fund Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 524856
- Enterprise Ventures Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 183363
- EV Business Loans Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 443560
About Don Macleod
Don Macleod is the former CEO of National Semiconductor (acquired by Texas Instruments for $6.5billion in 2011) and a current board member at Broadcom, Inc.
About The Scottish Investment Bank
The Scottish Investment Bank (SIB) is the investment arm of Scotland’s main economic development agency, Scottish Enterprise, operating Scotland-wide in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
It manages a suite of co- investment funds including the Scottish Co-investment Fund and the Scottish Venture Fund, which are partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and the Renewable Energy Investment Fund on behalf of the Scottish Government.
SIB is also an investor in Epidarex Capital’s life sciences fund and is a participant in the Scottish European Growth Co-Investment Programme funded by the Scottish Growth Scheme alongside the European Investment Fund.
SIB provides a team of Financial Readiness specialists to help companies prepare for new investment and access appropriate finance. SIB’s activities support Scotland’s SME funding market to ensure businesses with growth and export potential have adequate access to growth capital.