One of the UK’s leading digital visualisation companies, Tees-based Animmersion, is set for further expansion with the help of a six-figure investment from UKSE.
Set up in 2006, Animmersion quickly established a reputation for its ground-breaking designs and products covering immersive technologies from virtual reality, augmented reality and holograms to animations and dashboards. Despite the challenges of Covid the company has seen a 25% growth in turnover for two years in a row.
This investment is the second from UKSE, the Tata Steel business support subsidiary, and will be used to help improve Animmersion’s business model and efficiency, boosting growth as it further develops its team, products and services.
Sam Harrison, Animmersion’s CEO, said “We are currently advertising for technical artists and a senior creative but are always looking for new talent. This second investment from UKSE will help us to grow our team and consider a number of growth plans including the setting up of a demonstration space.
“Our previous investment from UKSE was in 2018 and they have been a strong and supportive partner. I would encourage any business to put them top of the list if they are looking for financial support,” he added.
Sarah Thorpe, UKSE Regional Manager, said: “Animmersion is one of Teesside’s real success stories operating in a sector with great potential. We are very pleased to be able to support them with a second and larger investment, supported by the government-backed Recovery Loan Scheme. It is very rewarding to build up relationships with companies and work alongside them as they grow.”
Animmersion’s expertise is in demand across sectors from engineering, healthcare and construction to offshore, science, energy and retail with numerous household names on its client list. Currently, a particularly strong growth area is in developing content for younger audiences that plays an important part in helping industries to fill vital skills gaps.
“We are working with Skills Development Scotland and a number of UK colleges directly to create content that enables young people to undertake virtual reality work experience,” explained Sam Harrison.
“We create VR work experience tours and also repurpose existing or newly commissioned industrial immersive training so that young people, parents and teachers can experience exactly what it is like to work in a whole range of industrial roles, to a level that would have previously required privileged onsite access. This approach is entertaining and engaging for the audiences, highly cost effective for companies and very scalable.
“We are working with global automotive manufacturer Unipres (UK) in Sunderland on crane driver training. And recently created four interactive games for the Anglo www.animmersion.co.uk American’s education outreach programme based around their Woodsmith polyhalite fertiliser mine on the North Yorkshire coast.”
Animmersion has emerged from Covid restrictions not only with successful growth figures but also with a close 19-strong team happily settled into a hybrid work pattern that provides flexibility between home and office.