Intechnica has secured backing from The North West Fund for Venture Capital, managed by Enterprise Ventures, and the Greater Manchester Investment Fund. It is the second major investment by the funds, which first backed the company in 2013.
Intechnica’s new product TrafficDefender ensures websites can continue generating revenue even when there is excess traffic, by placing visitors in an orderly queue. It sits alongside the company’s performance testing tool TrafficSpike.
Both products help retailers which have to deal with surges in demand caused, for example, by the Black Friday sales or the so-called ‘Kate Middleton effect’ – when shoppers flock to a site to buy outfits seen on celebrities.
The company, which serves major customers throughout the UK including Marks & Spencer, ASOS, Unilever and Network Rail, says it has now set its sights on entering the US market. Founded in 2007 by Jeremy Gidlow and Andy Still, Intechnica is based in the Northern Quarter and employs 53 staff.
Jeremy Gidlow, Managing Director of Intechnica, said: “Slowdowns and outages can cost online retailers tens of thousands of pounds a minute in lost sales, not to mention the damage to their reputation. Our products can help fix the performance issues for companies worldwide. With the latest funding round and the launch of TrafficDefender, we have our sights set on the US market.”
Mike Blackburn, chair of GM LEP, said: “Intechnica is a true Manchester success story; an organisation that is developing software solutions to the kind of modern technical challenges that we rarely stop to think about. The boost they will receive from the funds will ensure that they can maximise their impact on the global market, which in return will bring significant benefits for their operations and progress here in Manchester.”
Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: "The digital sector is increasingly important to Manchester and I'm pleased that the Greater Manchester Investment Fund has been able to support the international expansion of a city success story."
Doug Stellman of Enterprise Ventures, which manages The North West Fund for Venture Capital, said: “Over the past few years Intechnica has secured a very impressive customer base across the UK including many of the leading retailers. The time is now right for it to target the global marketplace.”
The North West Fund for Venture Capital is financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank.
The Greater Manchester Investment Fund is supported by the Government’s Regional Growth Fund.
