Durham tech firm secures future following six figure Growth Fund investment

Durham tech business Powerdial Services has received a six figure investment from the Finance for Business North East Growth Fund, which has helped to propel its fortunes over the past two years.

The firm provides business collaboration and ICT solutions, and has achieved more than 40% year-on-year revenue increase over the last 12 months, as well as increasing employee numbers by 30% during the same period.

The company also runs a technical apprenticeship scheme to help ensure it has the skills required to support its continuing growth.

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Local 18 year-old Adam Rutherford has now joined the Seaham-headquartered firm as its first technical apprentice, and is undertaking an on-the-job training programme that will eventually lead to him becoming a qualified IT Technician with accreditations from technology giants Microsoft, Cisco and Avaya.

Powerdial recently launched its own hosted voice solution (HVS) under the Powerdial Connect brand. The launch will see the company strenthening its position in the ‘cloud voice’ market.

Paul Farn, Powerdial’s managing director and co-owner commented: “Powerdial’s workforce has now grown to 17, with more jobs expected to be created as a result of its continuing growth, and it is about to deploy its first cloud-based multi-channel contact centre into one of the UK’s largest corporate contact centres.

“Much of our success has been built on supplying technologies that physically sit within clients’ premises, and whilst we will to continue to supply these solutions, there is an increasing trend for cloud-based voice services which negates the need for any major upfront investment.“

Powerdial worked with regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers to secure the Growth Fund investment in late 2014, which was brought in to cover the growth capital requirements of its business plan.

He continued: “Over the last two years, our relationship with the NEL team has been great, and we regard them as business partners who are just as interested in our success as we are.

“The Growth Fund investment we secured has helped us get much further that we’d otherwise have been able to by now, and our aim is to keep building on the momentum that it has helped us create.”

Jonathan Luke, portfolio manager at NEL Fund Managers, added: “Powerdial’s ability to integrate evolving technologies into their business plan is extremely impressive, and the progress they’ve made since taking on our Growth Fund investment is a terrific example of the difference that this sort of capital can make to a company’s operations.”