US private investor Angel Syndicate, Aero-Den, the Scottish Investment Bank and a number of private UK investors have provided UWI Technology, a smart label company, with over £1.26 million to drive its next phase of growth.

The UWI Label identifies the critical use point of materials that begin to degrade from the point of opening. It is an elapsed time indicator that not only can show whether food is safe to consume or not, but reduces or eliminates risk and downtime in workplaces that incorporate products with critical lifespans in their processes.

UWI’s CEO and founder, Pete Higgins, invented the Label while making lunch for his 8-year-old son. Inspiration struck Higgins when he wondered about the safety of a previously opened jar of mayonnaise.  

“While allowing UWI to move into the next phase of growth and deliver product to market, the investment is also a huge endorsement of our overall strategy and outlook, from influential investors both here in the UK and America,” says Higgins.

As well as its existing microfluidic label, the company is developing a hybrid label to monitor other measures such as temperature, pressure and humidity. The “smarter” hybrid label will have the capability to send text or e-mail warnings as well as communicate with other labels or devices.

Other products with critical lifespans in their processes include chemical reagents, glues, sealants, aircraft product paints and composites, and apply critically in the aerospace, engineering, medical and life sciences industries.

Product trials are planned across these sectors in early 2015.

”It’s great to see UWI once again secure the backing of Aero-Den, and we are pleased to be investing alongside them in this round,” says Kerry Sharp, head of the Scottish Investment Bank. “This investment will give the company a platform to really capitalize on the huge potential of their technology.”

In 2012, UWI became the first Scotland-based company to receive an investment from the North American based Angel Syndicate, Aero-Den, and the first company to receive the full £250,000 funding from Scottish Investment Bank’s Scottish Seed Fund in one tranche.

Douglas Cribbes, who became UWI’s chairman in 2012, is a Scottish born businessman included in the Aero-Den syndicate behind the deal. Cribbes, a GlobalScot, is the President and CEO of Fort Worth-based Texas Aero Engine Service (TAESL), a joint venture company between Rolls-Royce and American Airlines.

“We are delighted to play a further part in bringing these exciting new products to market,” Cribbes says. “We see the UWI intelligent label and the hybrid label addressing the needs across a diverse industrial base and feel they will become a key element in the rapidly growing smart device world we now live in.”