Case study
Founded in 2015 by military intelligence officer Michael McCabe, built through the full GCV Labs venture build process and funded across three rounds by GCV Invest - acquired by Sigma7 in 2022 and now operating as S7 One.
GCV Labs supported Michael McCabe in identifying glaring inefficiencies in private sector security software. For years, providers had relied on outdated manual processes with limited technology, leaving customers with untimely alerts and reporting - and ultimately placing their people, assets and reputation at risk.
The gap in the market was evident and Michael's domain experience was a valuable asset. But taking the idea from concept to a profit-generating, scalable business needed a team with proven startup experience to raise capital, build a team and build a product.
“Private security companies were failing to evolve quickly enough to meet the changing threat landscape.”
“Michael's deep domain experience in military and private sector intelligence was a valuable asset, but taking Intelligence Fusion from an idea to a scalable business needed a team with proven startup experience.”
GCV Labs built the business and the product. GCV Invest raised the capital behind it. This is how the two tracks ran alongside each other from proof of concept to exit.
Proof of concept
2015
The build - GCV Labs
GCV Labs onboards Intelligence Fusion. The Labs team supports business strategy formation and builds the first IF platform.
The raise - GCV Invest
£22,500
GCV Invest launches IF's proof of concept round, raising £22,500 from the GCV investor network.
Raised to date · £22,500
Scale
2018
The build - GCV Labs
GCV Labs develops IF2, the second iteration of the platform, as IF recruits a specialist intelligence team and headcount grows rapidly.
The raise - GCV Invest
£500,000+
Following considerable internal growth, IF's second investment round is launched, raising over £500,000.
Raised to date · £522,500+
Exit
2022
The build - GCV Labs
At exit, IF has amassed an impressive blue-chip client base and a significant future pipeline.
The raise - GCV Invest
£1.25m total
IF exits via trade acquisition by Sigma7, providing profitable returns for all GCV investors.
Raised in full · £1.25m
GCV Labs onboarded Intelligence Fusion at idea stage and led business strategy formation, working inside the venture rather than alongside it. Craig Peterson, Co-founder of GCV Labs, acted as Venture Builder Lead throughout the company's journey from proof of concept to exit.
The Labs team built the core software product and threat intelligence platform, gathering fragmented intelligence from verified international sources - news flow, social media and on-the-ground reporting - and processing it through the platform under the quality control of specialist intelligence analysts.
In 2018 GCV Labs developed IF2, the second iteration of the platform, packaging military-grade intelligence insights as a customisable SaaS product tailored to each customer's needs - a rebuild that supported rapid client growth and underpinned the move into blue-chip accounts.
Cutting-edge UX and UI design was built into the platform from the outset, making complex intelligence genuinely usable for the people who rely on it every day - and helping Intelligence Fusion reach its market quickly, cost-effectively and with a credible enterprise product.
GCV Labs helped recruit the team around the founder, strengthening the business at every stage of its growth. As the company scaled, that included building out the specialist intelligence capability and the analyst function that gave the platform its credibility.
GCV Invest, GCV's network of experienced private and institutional investors, supported every funding round - raising £1.25m in seed and growth capital across three rounds between 2015 and 2019, and giving the business a stable launchpad for revenue generation.
Between 2015 and 2019, GCV's co-investment platform hosted three investment rounds into Intelligence Fusion. On the company's exit in 2022, these realised money-on-money returns of between 2x and 12x for GCV investors. Every round was backed by the tax advantages available under SEIS or EIS.
Round 1
SEIS · 2015
Round 2
EIS · 2018
Round 3
EIS · 2019
The first and second rounds were SEIS and EIS eligible respectively, enabling investors to benefit from additional tax incentives - from 50% income tax relief to capital gains and inheritance tax exemption. This illustrates what a £50,000 investment into IF's first round would have returned, taking the SEIS advantages into account.
These are historic, realised outcomes for a single portfolio company and are not a forecast. Past performance is no guide to future returns. Early stage investments carry significant risk, including the total loss of capital, and tax reliefs depend on individual circumstances and may change.
By 2022 the company had built an impressive blue-chip client base with annual recurring revenue in excess of £700,000. Having made its footprint in the private sector security industry, IF caught the attention of global risk technologies organisation Sigma7, which identified it as a powerful asset to its all-in-one intelligence platform and acquired the Durham-based company that year.
Intelligence Fusion today forms part of the Sigma7 group, operating as S7 One.
“Intelligence Fusion is the crown jewel in threat visualisation and monitoring solutions.”
“Intelligence Fusion is the perfect example of a GCV portfolio company that has gone on to produce exceptional outcomes for our investors.”
The model behind it
Having the GCV Labs and GCV Invest teams work together to create, launch and scale an industry-leading platform - one that produced positive returns for investors and measurable impact in its industry - showcases the potential of GCV's approach.
This closely-aligned model lets portfolio companies focus on gaining commercial traction in the early stages, knowing development of their product is in the hands of an experienced build team. At the same time it mitigates risk for early stage investors, minimising the usual stumbling blocks young companies face and providing a stable launchpad for revenue generation.
“GCV has supported Intelligence Fusion from idea stage and proof-of-concept stage right through to launching and scaling the business.”
“The GCV Invest team has supported each funding round, raising a total of £1.25m in seed and growth capital. The GCV Labs team has developed our core software product and intelligence platform which helped us get to market quickly and cost-effectively.”
