Private Growth Capital

finnCap Group is proud to announce that it has helped advise on a successful first major fundraise for CYJAX, an award-winning, London-based SaaS provider of threat intelligence solutions for enterprise and public sector organisations.

The funding will be strategically allocated to fuel key initiatives across R&D (primarily to accelerate its AI product development roadmap) and to strengthen its workforce across its engineering, sales, and marketing functions.

Since its inception, CYJAX has achieved notable milestones, winning both industry and peer awards, including becoming the first small business in history in the UK to provide services directly to national policing. With this successful funding round, the company is poised to accelerate its growth trajectory and solidify its position in the cyber security marketplace.

Advisers to CYJAX from finnCap Cavendish were Anthony Platt (Partner and Co-head of Technology) and Soben Durai (Senior Associate).

Anthony Platt, Partner and Co-head of Technology at finnCap Cavendish, commented:

“We are delighted to have worked with Kevin and the CYJAX team in their fundraising. CYJAX’s expertise in cybersecurity threat intelligence and impressive client base will be further strengthened with the investment. The funds will be used to expand their team and develop AI capabilities, setting the stage for continued growth.”

finnCap Group is delighted to announce it has advised the train travel platform, Seatfrog, on raising £6m from Pembroke VCT, Octopus Ventures and Praetura Ventures.

The latest funding round will allow the travel innovator to embark on a new recruitment drive and meet the demands from operators across Europe, accelerating the next wave of its platform as it bids to become the preeminent pan-European choice for rail.

The deal is a key example of the strength of finnCap’s leading cross-sector offering, using both its consumer and technology expertise to advise on the funding for this technology driven consumer product. Successfully securing funding for a rail travel technology business during a time of train strikes and the cost-of-living crisis also demonstrates finnCap’s ability to deliver deals in challenging markets.

Seatfrog is on a mission to reinvent the experience of catching a train for millions of European passengers and the operators that carry them. Launched in 2018 to initially combat the 570+ million first-class seats that travel empty each year, Seatfrog has become the go-to choice for over one million passengers to get the best journey for their money.

Seatfrog has already saved consumers more than £43m across 3,400+ destinations with its smarter technology that helps operators run more profitable networks, increasing new revenue by over 300%. To date, it has secured exclusive partnerships with sixteen major train operators covering over 3bn journeys across the UK and Europe, with Italian operator Trenitalia the latest to put its faith in Seatfrog to deliver a better journey for its 500 million passengers.

Zuleika Salter, Head of Private Growth Capital of finnCap, commented: “Seatfrog is genius for completely transforming the process and experience of purchasing, amending or upgrading a train ticket. Their proprietary technology not only makes life cheaper, simpler and enjoyable for the train traveller, it is a no-brainer for operators too, driving additional revenue whilst greatly reducing the administrative time and expense of providing accessible customer choice. It is a joy to work with the very talented founders, Iain and Dirk, who have co-created this industry-changing solution.”

• finnCap advises on fundraising for Ro&Zo
• Transaction completed by all-female founder team and all-female advisers

finnCap Group is delighted to announce it has advised accessible womenswear brand Ro&Zo on its first ever external funding round.  Pembroke,  the highly regarded consumer focused VCT, has invested £1.5 million in the business.

Ro&Zo, which was founded by Rachel Heather, Rosie Bowden and Zoe de Abreu in February 2021, has achieved outstanding growth despite the obvious economic headwinds.  The brand, which is led by CEO Rachel Heather, is sold in 15 John Lewis stores, johnlewis.com and Next online and is stocked on Zalando in Europe.

This round of investment will help Ro&Zo drive its direct to consumer business by raising awareness of its brand, develop its operations capability and scale the business in the UK. As part of this Ro&Zo is looking to launch its first high street store to provide an experience-driven, high quality omnichannel experience and is using data to find the best location suited to its customer profile.

Rachel Heather, CEO and co-founder of Ro&Zo, said:

“We are immensely grateful for the hard work and expertise we received from finnCap in securing this fundraise. Zuleika’s knowledge and communication skills were outstanding. It is the first time we have raised external funds so we were heavily reliant on their introductions, all of which were a good fit for Ro&Zo. Zuleika’s guidance through the process was exemplary. We are delighted to have chosen Pembroke as our new shareholders and look forward to a long relationship with them as we continue our growth strategy.”

Zuleika Salter, Head of Private Growth Capital of finnCap, commented:

“It’s an incredibly tough market for consumer brands at the moment so to have secured this funding for the team is testament to the strength of the business and a vote of confidence in the founders. It has been a real privilege to work with the phenomenally talented team at Ro&Zo. I look forward to following their success.”