The Finance Durham fund has provided a £40,000 incubator investment to Moralbox, a technology start-up which allows employers and staff work together to manage training records.
Moralbox will use the funding to further develop the functionality of its tech platform, enabling the firm to enter new markets, promote the software and employ a full-time sales team.
Based at the Spectrum Business Park in Seaham, County Durham, Moralbox has designed a web-based software platform which creates a centralised training and certification profile of each employee, helping employers to analyse and manage their workforce training records and staff certification programmes saving them time and money.
“We’re passionate about our technology and believe we’ve created a system that will revolutionise the way employers manage their training,” said Moralbox chief executive Gordon MacPherson Jnr.
“The funding will allow us to scale up by employing extra sales staff to market our product and enter new markets as well as further develop the functionality of our software to meet the changing needs of the customers we supply to.
“The Finance Durham Fund is pivotal to the development of small businesses like ours and we’re pleased to benefit from it.”
The £20m Finance Durham is managed by Maven Capital Partners and was launched earlier this year by Business Durham, the economic development organisation for County Durham, on behalf of Durham County Council.
Ben Jones, investment associate of Maven, said: “We’re delighted to support Moralbox’s growth plans at this stage in the company’s development.
“The team at Moralbox has identified a clear gap in the market and demonstrated that there’s a real need for the technology they’ve developed across a wide range of business sectors.
“This is a great fit for an investment from the part of the fund allocated to support innovation. We look forward to helping more companies like Moralbox expand through an incubator investment.”
Sarah Slaven, interim MD of Business Durham, added: “We’re always keen to support innovation in County Durham and this funding will allow Moralbox to combine the experience and skills of its founders and reach new markets by developing this exciting technology further.
“Durham is home to many innovative companies which are able to take advantage of a range of support from finance, links with universities and links to the thriving network of like-minded business people in the county. We look forward to continuing our support for Moralbox as the company grows.”