Dog Digital wins £1m from Panoramic

PRIVATE equity firm Panoramic Growth Equity yesterday threw a funding bone to Glasgow-based online design agency Dog Digital with a £1 million investment to fuel global growth.

Dog Digital – which counts software giant Adobe, utilities company ScottishPower and football group Uefa among its clients – will use the cash to open offices in London and Singapore, creating 15 jobs in Glasgow and more overseas.

The agency, which was set up in 1996, already has about 50 staff and grew its turnover by 20 per cent last year to £3.6m.

Gerry McCusker, founding director at Dog Digital, said: “We were not actively looking for growth capital when we met the team at Panoramic, but we soon realised a funding boost, combined with their expertise and track record, could help us really ramp up our growth ambitions.”

As well as carrying out online and social media advertising, Dog Digital has designed websites for asset managers such as Baillie Gifford and Scottish Widows Investment Partnership.

Panoramic operates the largest enterprise capital fund (ECF) covered by the UK government’s 2006 scheme to help fill the “equity gap” experienced by some small businesses.

Glasgow-based Panoramic’s ECF was launched in September 2009 with £34m to invest in companies in tranches of between £500,000 and £2m.

The firm is run by Stephen Campbell, Malcolm Kpedekpo and David Wilson, with advisers including former British Airways finance director Drew Thomson, ex-Kwik Fit managing director Tony Lochery and recruitment firm founder Jim Calder.