Business angels pump £1m into Flexiant's cloudscape

BUSINESS angels have joined managers at Flexiant in raising £1 million for the Livingston-based "cloud computing" development company.

More than 20 investors took part in the funding round, contributing about 90 per cent of the total cash between them.

Flexiant said the money would be used to further develop its Extility technology, which allows customers to create their own cloud computing platform.

Rather than having software installed on desktop machines, cloud computing lets users access data and programs remotely through the internet.

Flexiant launched what it claims was Europe's first cloud platform in 2007 and then its Extility technology in March this year.

Chief executive Alex Bligh said: "Investors have seen the opportunity in the cloud generally and in Flexiant specifically.

"This funding will enable Flexiant to develop further our technology and to drive our sales process.

"At a time when demand for this kind of technology far exceeds the availability of proven models such as Extility and FlexiScale, Flexiant is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this market place."

The investment follows a spate of activity in the cloud sector, with HP buying 3Par for $2.35 billion (1.51bn).