Growth Investment

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Atlantic Link

The Business

Atlantic Link Limited are developers and suppliers of rapid e-learning software to blue chip organisations around the world. Our goal is to bring e-learning to the masses. With our software, anyone who can use a computer can create stunning e-learning and unleash the knowledge locked within themselves and their organisations.

We are based in Nottingham and were founded in 2002 by Mike Alcock and Tony Reddington. Having worked in e-learning for many years, we came to the conclusion that e-learning was too slow and expensive to produce, too complicated for most people to create and almost impossible to maintain.

Starting with a clean sheet of paper, and with a team of the best software developers in the world (12 based in the UK, 6 in the USA and 20 in Kiev, Ukraine), we threw out the rulebook and wrote a brand new e-learning architecture based on the latest generation of Microsoft technologies, achieving a £2 million turnover this year.

The Mangement

The management team consists of:

Mike Alcock – Managing Director
Mike has been in the IT industry for the last 20 years, and e-learning for the last 10. He has worked in roles ranging from programming, sales support, marketing and front line sales. He has sold and delivered over 300 e-learning projects, ranging from simple IT simulations through to complete corporate induction programmes.

As Managing Director, Mike is responsible for the following areas:

• Software development
• Marketing
• UK Sales
• Strategy and day to day operations

Tony Reddington - CEO
Tony brings over 25 years business experience to Atlantic Link. This wealth of knowledge includes running companies in various parts of the world including Ghana, Tunisia and Baghdad.
In the UK, Tony owned and managed the Kettering Leisure Village and Dieselpart Hydraulics before being headhunted into the IT industry.
He has been instrumental in growing this business from a start-up position to being an established e-learning company with a blue chip client list.

Tony looks after strategy, global development and financials for Atlantic Link.
 

The Opportunity

We operate in a growing market driven by the need to cost effectively train thousands of employees without the costs of classroom training, hotels and trainers.
In a credit crunch, the opportunity becomes even more apparent, as organisations seek to reduce their training budgets but still need to train their employees to survive.

Our multi-award winning software is unique in the marketplace and offers significant benefits when compared to competing products. We want to raise our profile and footprint in the USA, where the e-learning market is 10 times as big as the in the UK. Having dominated the UK market, we are now looking to repeat our success in the USA. We have raised £500,000 which we will be spending on sales and marketing in the USA.

Pete Le Noury of Catapult commented:

“We have been impressed with how AtlanticLink have developed a suite of innovative products which they have proven are both easy to use and can save their Blue Chip customers money.

We are backing them to further extend their UK customer base but more importantly to fund entry into the very significant US rapid e-learning market.”

Its not just about the Money

Mike Alcock commented: 

“The investment has allowed us to accelerate our expansion far more quickly than we could have achieved through organic growth and has given us the confidence to invest in the American operation.

Catapult is a great company and trusted advisor as we go into the next stage of growth.”