Exeter’s new MP Steve Race came to visit Re-flow in early September to see firsthand how tech investment is benefitting the region
Just over a month into his role as Exeter’s new MP, Labour’s Steve Race visited one of the city’s business success stories – Re-flow Field Management – to discuss how investment in tech is fuelling growth in the Southwest. The meeting took place on the 6th of September at Re-flow’s city-centre office.
Re-flow’s field management software is designed to help companies with a large proportion of their workforce in the field to streamline their operational processes required for safe, efficient and profitable projects to be planned and carried out.
The topic of investment is an important one for Re-flow CEO, Mike Saunders. ‘Re-flow only exists because of external investment,’ he says. ‘It’s been a fundamental part of our journey and has allowed us to reach a level of success that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.’
Re-flow’s success story is a model for investment in Exeter
Since starting the business six years ago, Re-flow have grown exponentially, receiving some notable accolades along the way. The once small software startup now provides jobs and security for over fifty employees. It’s a rapidly scaling business, capable of standing on its own two feet. Eighteen new workers have joined in the last eight months alone. Having won the Sunday Times Best Place to Work Award two years in a row, Re-flow evidently provides high-quality jobs too and is now the go-to field management system for the highways sector across the UK and Ireland.
The meeting was arranged by BVCA – the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association – whose membership includes key financial backers for countless successful businesses nationwide. With headline figures of £20.1bn invested last year and nine in every ten investments directed at SMEs, the impact of private equity and venture capital on modern businesses is hugely significant.
Mike Saunders and Steve Race talked about the impact of investment in Exeter and the importance of attracting financial attention – most often focussed on London – towards the South West. It was also an opportunity to show off a little of what Re-flow as a team are up to. ‘Having Steve in the office was an opportunity to share our passion and drive for building cutting edge software that aids companies and investing in the right people to realise that vision,’ Mike Saunders said.
Steve Race said, ‘It was exciting to hear about the company’s future ambitions for growth as well as the pivotal role that private capital investment…had in supporting the company in its early years. Re-flow is a brilliant example of Exeter’s economic diversity and potential. In the relatively short time since it was founded, the company has grown into a leading player in the field management space.’
Technology investors should reconsider Exeter
There are plenty of reasons to believe that companies in the South West represent solid investment opportunities. So many ingredients are in place to maintain and attract talent to the area. With beaches, moors, forests, cliff walks, and more the lifestyle benefits are noteworthy. Impacts on health and on opportunities for high-quality family life are all positive. From trips to independent shops in Totnes, Kingsbridge, and Salcombe, to stays in Cornwall or North Devon – from boating in the Exe Estuary to the evening runs along the riverbank – Exeter and its surroundings clearly offer an attractive lifestyle alternative to big city life.
Then, with five of the world’s top 21 green scientists based in the city, shared between the university and the Met Office, any idea that Exeter is a sleepy, rural kind of city couldn’t be further from the truth. There are plenty of reasons for big money to be attracted to the area, and Re-flow are excellent proof of that.
