UGent spin-off Coscale raises 2M EUR

Gimv Arkiv Tech Fund II, Qbic Arkiv Fund and SOFI (PMV) jointly invest € 2 million in CoScale, a Ghent university spin-off, offering a SaaS platform that provides insights in the performance of web applications. Gimv en Qbic each invest €750.000, SOFI (PMV) €500.000.

“At CoScale we dream of a world where the load time of a webpage is never a concern”, says CEO Hans Witdouck. 

Slow pages make visitors leave your site. For an e-commerce site, this leads to revenue loss, for a news site it lowers ad revenue, and in general a slow website is detrimental to the image of a brand. CoScale monitors and analyses those slow webpages, shows their impact on the turnover and uses advanced analytics to give insights in the cause of the problem, whether they are application, network or infrastructure related. The software is used by companies and web agencies that strive for optimal web experience and associated business results. “In essence, web applications and e-commerce shops don’t differ all that much from physical stores: if the infrastructure is not right, if the doors don’t open, or if there are lengthy queues, customers also run away and turnover is impacted,” says CEO Hans Witdouck. 

“Modern web applications run on infrastructure and code that changes so rapidly that it is necessary to constantly monitor all the possible elements that affect the performance of a web site or application. This task is performed by the CoScale platform.” With this investment Gimv, Qbic and SOFI (PMV) confirm their confidence in the company, the technology and the management. The funds will be used to further develop the domestic and foreign market, and to continue the development of the product. 

Qbic is an interuniversity risk capital fund investing in spin offs of Ghent University, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Universiteit Antwerpen, Université de Liège, their associated Colleges and university hospitals, and VITO. Qbic Fund has € 40,7 million under management and supports start-up companies both financially as well as with hands-on advice in their journey towards commercial success. Qbic Arkiv Fund is a joint initiative with Arkimedes-Fund II (ARKimedes is an initiative of Participatiemaatschappij Vlaanderen NV and the Flemish Region).