US fund swoops for Cheltenham cyber firm. What’s going on?

If Gloucestershire needed a business whose journey speaks of the incredible growth potential for cyber and its ability to draw in millions of pounds of funding, Ripjar is that poster boy. Or is it?

Dears readers,

We hope you’re had a great week.

Today’s edition includes some briefing notes and diary dates which we are endeavouring to make a regular feature on Fridays.

Our main story is a look at a snippet of news we picked up about a firm from Cheltenham that has just been taken over by an American growth fund.

Those in the cyber community will know of Ripjar, but perhaps not those outside it. Founded by two former employees of GCHQ the firm’s tech supports leading global companies and governments in detecting criminal behaviour. It’s headquartered in Eagle Tower.

In 2022 is raised £28 million of funding for growth and was tipped for big things.

From one perspective those ‘big things’ are already happening in the form of the takeover.

For others there are more pressing questions around what work the UK and Gloucestershire has to do in order to help other cyber firms truly capitalise on their potential.

With the help of Chris Dunning-Walton from CyNam we try and explore a little of that, and why it is important to look more closely at the Ripjar story if we are to make sure Gloucestershire can continue to capitalise on its potential as ‘the UK’s cyber capital’ and all the promises of the forthcoming Golden Valley is realised.

We also asked the new owner of Ripjar if it plans to keep the firm in Gloucestershire? Can it continue to grow here? Just what are its plans?

And it reminds us that an investor told this journalist just last year that once he would have to be in London to find good prospects in the tech sector. Not any more, he said!

• Remember, Raikes is a reader-supported publication - it is able to deliver journalism and a credible, respected editorially-led platform for Gloucestershire because of those paid-for subscribers and our generous Founding Partners and Founding Members. Which is why today’s edition is paywalled. If you are not one of our growing tribe of paid-up members already, please do consider joining them.

Have a great weekend.

Andrew Merrell (editor).

NB: Raikes publishes probably the best-read business-related email ‘newsletter’, pound for pound, in Gloucestershire.

If you have a story, an issue, a news item, a charity or an interview you want us to write about or investigate, challenge the powers that be on, then please email me: andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.

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Your briefing notes…

🗳️ On Monday 25 November, Cheltenham Borough Council and partners will “initiate its support for the ‘16 Days of Action’ campaign”, aimed at ending violence against women and girls. This initiative will commence with a community-wide effort to ‘Turn Cheltenham Orange’, encouraging businesses and residents to wear and display orange to show their commitment to this cause. Throughout the 16 days, the council will share various safety measures and resources for victims of domestic abuse via its social media channels.

🪩⛪Cheltenham-based national bar operator Epic Bars has acquired the former Vodka Revolution site - the old Baptist Church on Clarence Parade. It plans to reopen the venue from tonight (Friday 15 November) under the new name The Chapel. The new owner, which also owns Home and Botanic Cheltenham, said the move would create approximately 30 new jobs. Epic Bars and Clubs describes itself as the UK’s fastest growing chain of bars and nightclubs with 23 sites across the UK, including the Trilogy, Labyrinth and Botanic brands.

🧼 Lloyds Bank has agreed to back Cotswold-based Queen’s Award-winning business the Little Soap Company as it looks to expand. Founded by Emma Heathcote-James in 2008 to provide ‘natural pure soaps that are good for the skin’, the company now has a team of 10 staff and sells millions of products a year to every major retailer, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Asda, Boots and Amazon. The funding from Lloyds will help it install new software. It is currently venturing into Taiwan, the Netherlands and Ireland and has its sights set on the United States of America too.

😮‍💨 Outspoken Gloucestershire energy tycoon Dale Vince has launched a new push to sign up landowners to deliver energy independence, public ownership and green electricity to everyone in the county. According to Vince, analysis reveals Gloucestershire could accommodate 100 4MW windmills which would generate enough to meet the electricity needs of every household. The founder of Ecotricity is proposing a public ownership model through local authorities which he says could add an extra £7 million a year to the county council’s coffers.

🚜🐄👩‍🌾 So much post-Budget noise. Plenty for those brainy people in professional services to digest and help us with. The subject of inheritance tax and what it means for the agriculture sector gets closer scrutiny here from one of our long-standing contributors, director of Business West Gloucestershire’s Ian Mean OBE. As he says “far too often , I believe we forget the importance of farmers and associated food businesses to our Gloucestershire economy”. As Mean also points out, 70 per cent of land in Gloucestershire is agricultural. The sector supports 50,000 jobs here. Gloucestershire is also home to innovative agri-tech support centres like Farm 491 and Hartpury College and Hartpury University’s Agri-Tech centre. You can read his thoughts here.

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A chancellor of a very different kind!

If the words chancellor bring to mind only Rachel Reeves, and you are breaking out into a cold sweat, then read on for the antidote. There is more than one chancellor grabbing the headlines now. Hartpury University’s graduation ceremony at Gloucester Cathedral saw actor and animal lover Martin Clunes officially instated as the institution’s inaugural chancellor. Fittingly for a university synonymous with equestrian excellence the day also saw an honorary degree awarded to six-time Badminton champion, Olympic team silver medallist and world and double European champion, Lucinda Green. Charlie Whitehouse, a fourth-generation farmer based in the Forest of Dean, was also awarded an honorary degree for his role in the development of Hartpury and contribution to the agricultural industry. Hartpury is in the top 10 per cent of UK universities for graduate employability.

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Our to do list for the weekend…

Friday 8 November:

💃🏽👑 Not to be confused with the veteran rock band Queen, Queenz is back with a new show at Tewkesbury’s Roses Theatre - Drag me to The Disco. Described as “where Dancing Queenz and Disco Dreams collide for the part of a lifetime”. Showing tonight from 7.30pm and twice on Saturday 16.

🩰 The Imperial Classical Ballet and Opera House present Swan Lake at Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre tonight and The Nutcracker tomorrow, Saturday 16 November.

Saturday 16 November:

🎸 One-time BritPop favourites Echobelly bring their live show to Gloucester Guildhall at 7.30pm. Tickets are £21. The band has just recorded its latest studio album.

🥳 The Subscription Rooms presents what it calls Stroud’s “biggest party” tonight from 7pm when it stages its Shindig 2024. The Baghdaddies, Filthy Dirty Disco, DJ Robbie Duncan and more...

⚽ Cheltenham Town FC, currently 16th in Football League Division Two, play sixth-placed MK Dons away at 3pm.

Sunday 10 November:

🧑‍🎤 Pop star Will Young will be on stage at Cheltenham Town hall tonight from 7pm as part of his 50-date tour. Expect to be treated to his new single too from his forthcoming ninth studio album, Light It Up.

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If you upgrade to paid you’ll be part of this community interest company too. In an era when local journalism is all but gone and websites covered in pop-ups and full of advertorials, lists and unedited press releases, we are dedicated to delivering quality journalism for Gloucestershire, to championing the county, in particular its businesses, charities, education and training providers and to helping create an even stronger community. If you upgrade to paid you will be able to see past the paywalls on our second and third email editions of the week, that lock all our archive after two weeks and lock our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire, the series that follows the financial fortunes of our biggest firms by turnover. You will be able to comment on our stories too. You’ll be helping make this CIC sustainable. Please do join us.

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US fund swoops for Cheltenham cyber firm. What’s going on?

If Gloucestershire needed a business whose journey speaks of the incredible growth potential for cyber and its ability to draw in millions of pounds of funding, Ripjar is that poster boy. Or is it?

By Andrew Merrell.

One the face of it this is a story about a firm founded in Gloucestershire that developed technology in demand by our Government and others, attracted investment, grew quickly and has now been sold.

We are talking about Ripjar, the Eagle Tower-headquartered business which was raising £28 million in funding in 2022, tipped by many for big things and a firm which has just announced new American-based owners, in the shape Long Ridge.

It begs the obvious question of ‘what does it mean for the Gloucestershire business’s county footprint?’, but also ‘what does it say about the potential for the many other cyber-focused firms beavering away in Gloucestershire?’.

Could the county become a hotbed for future deals, or was this a one-off? Should we be excited by the Ripjar story or does it in fact tell us just how much work there is yet to do to help firms achieve their real potential?

Some of those questions are easier to answer than others. Like what it means for its place in the county. But we give it our best shot below.

We think it is a revealing take on just how much some think needs to be done to make sure we can capitlise on the forthcoming Golden Valley development and burgeoning cyber ecosystem, and how determined many are to do just that.