Liquid looks for new routes after equity funding

The Huddersfield-based company said it would use the money to open up new routes to market and "fully exploit the growing demand for cost effective and time saving software-as-a-service applications amongst small and medium sized businesses".

Liquid has sold an 18 per cent stake to a syndicate of three private investors – all of whom take seats on the board – and 12 per cent match-funded by a government fund for women-led businesses.

Richard Doyle, one of the investors and now chairman of Liquid, said: "Since conception in 2005, Liquid has developed a superb, extensive, yet easy to use online accounting solution with 3,438 programmes and more than 1 million lines of code.

"Pre-investment the team have attracted hundreds of customers, and more than 150 accountancy and book-keeping practices, and won several high profile awards."

Matt Holmes, the managing director, co-founded the business with Jon Wright and Lisa Kendrick. Ms Kendrick attracted the government support through its Aspire Fund.

Mr Holmes said: "We are delighted to have been able to attract investment in such challenging economic times. We believe that this is testament to the quality of our software and the unique team behind it.

"Our focus will be on building relationships with young, ambitious accountancy firms who are looking for ways to grow their practices, and working with strategic partners to offer the benefits of Liquid direct to their customers at an affordable price.

"There is an assumption that anything online must be a simple, cut-down version of the desk-top equivalent, however our software is the next generation of cloud accounting.

"Not only does it do what traditional software does but it offers real money-saving and time-saving business benefits."