By Kristy Dorsey
Vert Technologies has secured £720,000 of fresh funding to continue its drive towards commercialisation of its patented air compression appliance.
The money has been raised from existing investors Par Equity, Equity Gap, Aero Den and the Scottish Investment Bank. It will be used to support the launch of several new products – based on Vert’s Conical Rotary Compressor (CRC) technology – after the Covid-19 pandemic subsides.
Phil Harris, chief executive of Vert, said this latest round of funding “is a hugely gratifying vote of confidence” in the progress made by the company during the past 18 months. It brings the total amount of investment raised to date by Vert to £4.7 million.
READ MORE: Edinburgh manufacturing expert reckons we live in an 'over-managed world'
“With the additional funding we will be ramping up both sales and production, putting ourselves in a position to bring our exciting new products and technology to a wider audience from which we anticipate substantial take-up,” he said.
Mr Harris was brought in a year ago to replace Vert founder Olly Dmitriev as head of the business. His arrival, along with other senior appointments, was designed to position the company for the transition from pre-revenue development into commercial sales.
Vert currently has two main products on the market, its original A100 air compressor and the A150 model launched in the second half of last year. This product range will be extended with the addition of a sub-25kg compressor model aimed primarily at fibre optic installation, one of several key new markets identified during Mr Harris’ tenure.
There is also a new development for the refrigeration market, as well as a quiet vacuum product.
READ MORE: Edinburgh manufacturer Vert Rotors sees sales soar in breakthrough year
Vert’s CRC technology is smaller, cleaner and quieter than traditional twin-screw devices, and unlike others, it is capable of running continuously. The company’s compressors are used in a variety of settings, ranging from laboratories to workshops and factories.
“We continue to accelerate sales of our compressor units,” Mr Harris said. “We are also excited about the potential to exploit the benefits of our technology across a variety of markets, which is why we are particularly pleased with the potential of our CRC technology for the high-pressure refrigeration market as well as in vacuum.”
Founded in 2013, Vert employs 15 people at its manufacturing and design centre on the southern edge of Edinburgh.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here