WARWICK CIDERY LAUNCHES CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN

The owners of an award-winning family-run cidery in Warwickshire have launched a new crowdfunding campaign to help mount a post-pandemic recovery of their business.

Jolyon and Charlotte Olivier are inviting supporters to apply for at least £40,000 in shares of Napton Cidery following the success of their first round of investment two years ago.

The eight-week campaign is central to the entrepreneurs’ plans to re-emerge from the pandemic robust enough to build on the early success of their business – which started as a hobby nine years ago.

Today, an eight-strong team at Napton harvests, presses, bottles and distributes more than 90,000 litres of cider a year, using 17 types of apples from six orchards across the Herefordshire region.

READING DRONE COMPANY RAISES £4 MILLION TO GROW

A Reading drone technology traffic management company has raised a further £4 million from one of Europe’s largest venture capital investors.

Altitude Angel, which says it is the world’s leading UTM (Unified Traffic Management) technology provider, raised the funding from Octopus Ventures.

The latest fundraising Altitude Angel’s series A round, led by Octopus Ventures and existing investor Seraphim Capital. It brings the total invested in Altitude Angel in 2020 to £7.05 million.

Sales Go Through The Roof For Megastore

Banbury-based online roofing merchant Roofing Megastore doubled revenues last year, with its website attracting more than one million visits for people on the hunt for roofing and DIY supplies.

With so many Brits stuck at home – and with time on their hands to dabble in DIY, Roofing Megastore’s tripled the size of its customer service team to meet demand.

Founded in 2017 by Banburybased entrepreneur Gian-Carlo Grossi, Roofing Megastore’s success in 2020 was made possible by rapidly scaling its team, adopting new processes and making targeted investment in response to the explosion in demand during the first lockdown.