i-design multimedia, based in Newport-on-Tay on the outskirts of Dundee, provides user-interface design and ATM advertising solutions to the financial self-service market. The company has secured an investment of £250k from the Sigma Innovation Fund (East of Scotland), and £100k asset finance from the Bank of Scotland.
Ana Stewart, i-design’s managing director, founded the company in 1991 as a multi-media software and design consultancy. She saw the opportunity for specialising in systems for ATMs (automated teller machines, or cashpoints), and by 2001 the company was specialising in providing software for managing ATM networks, with key customers including NCR and Nationwide.
The next step was the introduction of advertising on ATM screens. i-design developed ATM:ad, a comprehensive software based and consultancy-led solution which enables ATM network owners to generate revenue by running internal and third party advertising campaigns on their networks. More recently, i-design has established the first ATM media sales specialist agency in the UK. This covers the entire sequence of services needed to place advertisements on ATMs, from booking the space, creating the design, and reporting data on customer interactions. This part of i-design’s business is a separate division, with the media sales team based in London.
The recently completed funding will be used to support continued product development and for the expansion of the ATM advertising business in both the UK and Europe.
Mark Hogarth, business development director of Sigma, who has joined i-design’s board as a non-executive director, said “We were initially attracted to the proposition by i-design’s management team, whose proven track record of innovation and delivery has allowed them to establish an excellent reputation among their blue-chip client base. i-design has already secured first customers for its innovative ATM:ad solution and the company achieved revenues of approximately £600k last year. We are looking forward to working with i-design as they continue to grow their business.” i-design is Sigma’s eighth investment in Scotland this year.
Young Company Finance - issue 71 Nov 2004 - www.ycf.co.uk