The North West Fund for Digital & Creative, managed by AXM Venture Capital Limited, has backed Carbon Digital, a Warrington-based visual effects (VFX) company, with a first-round investment for a minority equity stake.
Carbon Digital was founded by Paul McHugh and Sue McHugh. The company’s portfolio of work includes VFX for commercials and film including fluid dynamics, particle effects, camera tracking and CGI character generation. It offers a complete in-house service from concept generation, through live action shooting and directing to compositing and post-production.
The investment from The North West Fund for Digital & Creative, which is part of The North West Fund, financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), will support the company’s growth plans.
Paul and Sue McHugh started their careers in the computer games industry as animators and lead artists, working for companies including Rage, Sony and Acclaim. Carbon Digital clients include leading advertising agencies DKLW Lowe, BBH and corporate clients including Unilever.
Paul McHugh, managing director, said: “We are delighted to have secured this funding from The North West Fund for Digital & Creative and the Carbon Digital team are very excited about the future direction and opportunities ahead. The investment will enable us to accelerate our delivery, starting with a number of interesting bigger projects, secured through our ability in high-end visual effects. We are an extremely forward-thinking and driven group. We always champion the newest technologies and techniques to gain an edge on our competitors and to collaborate with the best agencies. We are genuinely excited to foster world class talent in this field in the North West.”
Joanne Evans, investment manager of AXM Venture Capital, added: “We are delighted to be able to invest in a highly-skilled and very talented team that already has blue-chip clients in one of the fastest-growing sectors of the creative economy.”