A LIVERPOOL company which has pioneered the next generation of internet services has received £100,000 to fund its development.
Aimes Grid Services, based on Liverpool Innovation Park, Edge Lane, began in 2002 at the University of Liverpool with the aim of exploiting business opportunities arising from seeing the internet as a platform for services.
Prof Dennis Kehoe, chief executive of Aimes, said: “We are a not-for-profit community interest company set up so we could reinvest the revenues in the services it provides, but in all other senses we are a commercial organisation.
“Turnover will be more than £1m this year, and in the next five years we are looking to get to £10m.
“That would be a significant technology business in this city.”
Aimes, which was last week named as Knowledge Business of the Year at the Liverpool Daily Post Regional Business Awards, provides secure server hosting, data back-up and disaster recovery services in energy efficient facilities.
The funding will be used to invest in infrastructure, including data centre capacity, business development and as working capital to sustain the company’s growth.
Prof Kehoe added: “For every single business, the volume and importance is increasing exponentially.
“Aimes provides the facilities to improve the resilience of companies’ data, while also providing economies of scale.
“We need data centres to be able to do that cost-effectively and, from an energy point of view, to do it efficiently.
“It’s enabling businesses to grow themselves and means they are seeing Liverpool as a good destination.”
The funding has been provided by the Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) business and commercial team in Liverpool under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme, which sees the Government secure 75% of the loan.
Peter Lunt, relationship manager at RBS in Liverpool, said: “Aimes is a well-run business that is led by a quality management team. They presented us with a strong business plan and secured the bank's backing as a result of this.
“The EFG scheme was introduced to ensure small businesses like Aimes have immediate access to working capital to support their growth needs, and this is a good example of the scheme in practice.”
