Vortex IoT

The equity funding and support from the Development Bank made a difference to our business, enabling us to be at the forefront of the fight against climate change with the development of solutions that help reduce carbon emissions.

Adrian Sutton, Chief Executive, Vortex IoT

The Development Bank’s Technology Ventures team exited Vortex IoT – a Neath-based supplier of environmental sensors, networks and data solutions – in early 2022.

Vortex IoT - founded by CEO Adrian Sutton and CTO Behzad Heravi - is made up of a highly-skilled team of 35, with their expertise covering emerging technologies, Artificial Intelligence (AI), 5G, LiDAR laser technology and machine learning.

Their work helps to support decarbonisation and sustainability efforts globally, by giving organisations and local governments the systems and data they need across a number of environmental factors, monitored and gathered through the Internet of Things (IoT).

As equity funders, the Development Bank invested £500,000 over two investment rounds in December 2018 and December 2019, co-invested with angel investors and the London-based Start-up Funding Club (SFC Capital).

Support from the Development Bank to the firm was provided by senior investment executives Richard Thompson and Alexander Leigh, which helped the business grow from three employees in shared offices at Swansea’s TechHub into full-scale production premises in the historic Neath ‘Metal Box’ factory.

During this scale-up period, the company used a combination of equity and grants to heavily invest in R&D to produce cutting-edge technology

Vortex IoT’s current flagship product is an air quality monitoring unit, which is already being used to help check and improve air quality in a number of London boroughs – forming a key part of the UK’s push towards becoming a net-zero nation by 2050.

After helping Vortex IoT to scale up in just three years, the Development Bank exited Vortex IoT early in 2022 following its acquisition by Marston Holdings, the UK’s leading provider of integrated, technology-enabled transport solutions.