Birmingham tech startup Synapse raises £1.2 million

Synapse, the fast-growing Birmingham technology start-up that re-engineers spreadsheets to meet the stringent demands placed on financial reporting, has announced that it is in the process of completing a highly successful fundraising round in excess of £1.2 million. 

Working with two organisations to secure the funding – the UK’s premier investment platform, Shadow Foundr and Central Business Finance, the business advisory firm based in Birmingham – Synapse was initially looking to only raise £300,000 working capital but because investors were so impressed with the business, four times that amount has been committed. There is the now the potential to raise even more.

With the additional funding, Synapse intends to recruit 20 new employees in 2018 to take advantage of global opportunities and to invest heavily in R & D. The team is currently developing a ‘first of its kind’, end-to-end Statutory Accounts Production solution that will give companies the ability to generate their accounts in-house from source data held by their financial system, to add iXBRL tags and to file them directly with Companies House. This has the potential to save businesses thousands of pounds every year in professional fees.

The innovative technology developed by Synapse solves the massive problems associated with corporate management reports and has first mover advantage in a market that is estimated by Gartner to be worth more than USD $10Bn. The Cloud CFO system allows staff to update spreadsheets remotely and simultaneously with a Cloud-based tool that automates report production, reduces operational costs and improves data quality.

Heath Lansbury, Chief Commercial Officer, Shadow Foundr, says: “Synapse is doing something totally different in the Corporate Performance Management (CPM) sector and is helping to solve the massive problems associated with corporate management reports. The company is exceeding all milestones due to the vision and commitment of the founders and the highly qualified and passionate team. This fits perfectly with Shadow Foundr’s ethos, which is to give our investors the opportunity to shadow the founders and share in their success together. The fact that Synapse had already generated £5m in revenue was a positive sign for our investor network from the outset.”

Directors, Alison Bradley and Chris Brown of Central Business Finance have worked with Brian Donnelly, CEO and founder of Synapse, since its inception, accessing varying sources of appropriate funding along the way;  “Achieving this funding package is a significant win for Synapse and the Midlands in general, providing the region with additional employment opportunities, a stronger economic output and confirming that the West Midlands is a thriving, progressive area to live and work. We are proud to have been able to assist Brian to achieve his expansion plans,” commented Alison Bradley, Managing Director, Central Business Finance.

Birmingham financial luminary Dr Steve Walker, Chief Executive, ART Business Loans comments “With ART’s support, Synapse grew from a standing start to a £1.5m turnover enterprise employing 28 staff in just over three years.  They are exactly the kind of success story Birmingham needs, developing innovative technological solutions that help real-life businesses to compete and thrive in these challenging times. We firmly believe the company has an impressive future ahead of it.”

Brian Donnelly, CEO and founder, Synapse, adds: “This fundraising round, managed by Shadow Foundr, has been four times as successful as we anticipated. The technology never fails to impress would-be investors and delivers a quick to deploy solution that is helping businesses to make strategic decisions, more quickly and with more accuracy.”