September 2013, Insider Media
An IT service provider has received funding of £100,000 from the Finance for Business North East Proof of Concept (POC) Fund.
Sunderland-based Affinity Systems was set up in 2010 by Al Yong and now numbers some of the biggest communication and IT systems suppliers across the globe such as BT and Cisco as customers.
The IT installation specialist supplies the North East, but can also manage and maintain communications in the North West, Yorkshire and the Midlands.
The funding received from the POC Fund, managed by Northstar Ventures, is going to be used to create a new strand to the business – a remotely provided IT service to end users and other IT companies – ‘Rymote’.
For a significant number of IT services, there is no longer a need for an IT engineer to be physically present at a customer’s site.
The concept of remote working has developed over time and is now a mature characteristic of the IT sector but it remains underutilised.
Al Yong said: “We recognised that there is a demand in the global market for accessible Cisco engineering skills and this is where the idea for Rymote stemmed from.
“After receiving a significant investment from Northstar and backing from local partners, both in the public and private sector, I feel really positive about our ground breaking service.
“This service means that we can work with customers located anywhere from our Sunderland base. Affinity will be working closely with the University of Sunderland and creating skilled jobs in the local area. With a wealth of experience from the existing business we are position to introduce exciting new possibilities and make a huge difference to the IT industry.”
Rebecca Crawford, investment manager at Northstar Ventures, added: “This is a really interesting company to add to our portfolio. Affinity is on track to be a real success and the funding it has received is going to help it to market its new service Rymote and also create a string of new jobs.
“The new staff members are anticipated to be hired over the next 12 months as demand ramps up for the company’s services.”