AN EDINBURGH software firm that allows businesses to analyse environmental data from space has targeted growth in the UK and North America after becoming the first Scottish company to receive funding from Clydesdale Bank’s new Emerging Technology Unit.

Ecometrica chief executive Gary Davis said the £622,000 funding puts the company’s plans ahead by 12-18 months. “We’ll be using the funds as working capital to allow us to fulfil bigger contracts and also to expand our sales and marketing teams to win those contracts.”

The company was founded by Mr Davis, Richard Tipper and Bertrand Revenaz in 2008. Its technology deciphers and combines data sent from satellites with traditional ground-based datasets to enable corporations to manage and monitor their environmental impacts, and increase overall business performance.

Ecometrica posted revenue of £1 million for the year ending March 2015. Mr Davis said that the firm's growth will be strong when its next results are published and the funding will support the next level of growth.

He added that there would be no rapid expansion and hires would be made as the market demands it. “We’ll be making two or three initial appointments, and I hope they’re rushed off their feet,” he said.

The firm works across the environment and sustainability reporting industry as well as the rapidly growing downstream space sector. It has worked with the likes of National Express, Aggreko and Aberdeen Asset Management.

Last year the company won a significant contract from the UK Space Agency to set up and co-ordinate a network of virtual regional Earth Observation Labs in order to help monitor the state of forests, agriculture and water resources.

This major international project seeks to address a lack of usable data from the huge volume of images being sent to Earth from satellites. It followed a landmark contract win for the firm in 2014 from the European Space Agency to support satellite monitoring and evaluation of the UK’s International Climate Fund (ICF) forest activities.

“Scotland has a good reputation among space agencies,” said Mr Davis. “It’s a great country for innovative technology and by being based here we know we can attract good, clever people to work for us.”

The creation of Clydesdale Bank’s Emerging Technology Unit is part of the bank’s partnership with the British Business Bank under its Enable Guarantee programme. This partnership will see up to £125m of lending by Clydesdale Bank help small businesses reach their growth ambitions.