Helping cutting edge engineering business to achieve scale

The Client: Actuation Lab

Actuation Lab is rethinking key elements of industrial hardware, such as actuators and valves, which are used to control and deliver the flow of liquids and gasses in industrial processes.

These pieces of hardware have remained fundamentally unchanged for decades, and in some cases, centuries. Actuation Lab is developing its first two products to rid the world’s pipework of these energy sapping, high maintenance, outdated devices, with a key focus on enabling the safe and sustainable supply of hydrogen to help meet net-Zero targets.

How we’ve helped:

Actuation Lab is another QTEC and SetSquared incubator member that we’ve been able to help since it was spun out of the University of Bristol.

They are a brilliant example of the type of business that comes out of these incubators – developing products that will genuinely be game-changing. As a result, they are getting a lot of interest from significant players in oil and gas and other industries which are heavy users of valves.

In the company’s early years, we’ve been able to help them raise investment for further growth and R&D. We’ve also helped them with grant funding and collaboration agreements. With this injection of funding, Actuation Lab have been able to develop the product and explore how the company’s technology could be applied to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industrial processes.

Working closely with CEO Simon and his team, we’ve given them the pragmatic advice they’ve needed to achieve their goals cost-effectively.

Investment work:

The company has raised investment from Deepbridge Capital, business angels and most recently from Evenlode Impact, Zero Carbon Capital and Kero Group. In total, the business has raised over £5 million. This includes:

•    January 2020: a £300K grant from Innovate UK
•    October 2020: £100K of equity-free funding
•    May 2022:  a £218K contract from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
•    June 2022: a £50K part-funded contract from the Business Innovation Fund.
•    December 2022: financial backing from respected hardware and climate-tech investors, Kero Development Partners and Zero Carbon Capital. 
•    April 2023: £570K grant from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.
•    August 2023: A £3m contract from Department of Energy Security and Net Zero to develop leak-free hydrogen valves

The diverse range of funders reflects the potential of Actuation Lab and its ability to make a meaningful contribution to the Net Zero agenda.  Roxburgh Milkins has advised the company on all of its fundraising.     

Commercial work:

We have helped the company with agreements relating to its £3m R&D contract from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero to progress a novel gas valve, designed to enable leak-free hydrogen flow control.

This project will see Actuation Lab advance the commercial readiness of their proprietary Dragonfly Valve.

Our ongoing work with Actuation Lab involves: negotiating grant and collaboration agreements, drafting commercial agreements and IP licensing. 

Five years of legal support:

We’ve been working with the team behind Actuation Lab since they began back in 2020. During our relationship with them, we’ve helped them with ad hoc advice on commercial, investment, corporate and other legal matters. We’re at the end of the phone for queries as they arise.

We’re in regular contact with the team for legal advice and general check ins on how the business is going.

In the early days, the team were new to business. They are expert engineers, but they were unfamiliar with the process of raising investment and the legal issues around it. We’ve helped them with the legal and business issues.

At Roxburgh Milkins, we support a range of start-ups and scale ups, and we guide businesses like Actuation Lab through the early stages and into more mature businesses.

There are a lot of complexities in the early stages of a business, particularly when scaling up, taking on employees, raising money and giving away equity. That’s where expertise and years of experience from advisors really counts. Our team has that experience and also provides continuity -  applying our in-depth knowledge of the history of the business to each significant new event.