Scottish Loan Fund invests in cloud optimisation business Cloudsoft

The Scottish Loan Fund (SLF), managed by Maven, has committed £1.5 million of funding to open source application management company, Cloudsoft Corporation Limited (Cloudsoft) alongside an equity investment led by its existing investors. The Edinburgh-based business has developed a valuable software platform for the cloud computing market which it predominately licenses to blue-chip clients.

An increasing number of large enterprises are moving their software applications to the cloud to reduce costs and improve performance and agility. Cloudsoft’s key product is its Application Management Platform (AMP) which streamlines the development and operation of cloud applications. The primary aim of AMP is to ensure that software applications are able to run at optimum levels based on available IT resources having regard for other business critical applications being used concurrently. The end result ensures optimisation of software applications based on a pre-defined set of rules as defined by the user. AMP’s ability to integrate efficiently with an enterprise’s existing architecture and also handle complex deployment programmes has been a key driver for adoption of Cloudsoft’s solutions by clients such as IBM.

Since Cloudsoft was founded in 2008 by Duncan Johnston-Watt, Alex Heneveld and Derek Gray, the business has grown steadily and with the cloud software market expected to be worth over $75 billion by 2017 there is considerable scope for further growth. The funding from the SLF and Cloudsoft’s investors will enable the company to accelerate product development and build its sales and marketing team, with the aim of expanding further into the US market.

This investment is another example of how the SLF is helping companies like Cloudsoft to exploit international market opportunities and how it continues to be a valuable source of finance for established, growth-oriented SMEs. To date the SLF has committed almost £50m to businesses throughout Scotland to help them achieve their business plans and facilitate the next stage of growth.

David Milroy, Investment Director at Maven, said: “We are very much looking forward to working with Duncan and his team. They are operating in a fast growing and dynamic market and the feedback from partners and clients highlighted that the Cloudsoft team are held in very high regard within their sector. They have a well-defined roadmap for growth and we are delighted the SLF is able to support the business.”

Duncan Johnston-Watt, CEO at Cloudsoft, added: “The funding from the Scottish Loan Fund will allow us to capitalise on a successful 2014 and crucially provide the support to grow both our sales and product development teams. David and Alan took time to understand our business and future plans whilst still managing to complete the transaction in short order. We look forward to working with the Maven team during what is going to be an exciting period of growth for Cloudsoft.”

Kerry Sharp, Head of the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise, one of the major investors in the SLF, said, “We are delighted to see the Loan Fund continuing its support for ambitious Scottish growth companies. Duncan and the highly skilled team at Cloudsoft have demonstrated strong credentials with blue chip clients. This funding will allow them to build on success to date.”