£1.5m notches Caspian up a level

Leading North East venture capital firm, NorthStar Equity Investors (NSEI), has led a £1.5m funding round in Caspian Learning.

NSEI has backed the business with £800,000 from its Co-Investment Fund (CoIF), attracting a further £400,000 from new investor hotspur Capital as well

The Sunderland-based firm works with clients such as Volvo, Bertlesmann Media, Learndirect and the Ministry of Defence which have adopted Caspian's simulations and games as part of their training and development programmes.

Graeme Duncan, CEO of Caspian Learning, said: "Our technology is truly captivating and can be used to create a whole range of highly contextual, engaging and effective 30 learning experiences.

"Within education for example, a student may be answering a question about how blood gets around the body whilst exploring a 30 set of lungs. From a corporate perspective, Volvo used us to develop product and sales training to its entire dealer franchise across the UK through virtual 30 car showrooms."

Caspian Learning was the first company to benefit from NSEI's Proof of Concept (POC) fund in 2004, receiving seed funding of £60,000 to get the business up and running. The company raised a further £900,000 from Enterprise Ventures in 2006-7. Now employing 20 people, Caspian will use the £1.5m cash injection to further develop its core technology, Thinking Worlds, as well as expand the business internationally, with a particular focus on a US entry late in 2008.