CREATIVE & DIGITAL

MP Sheryll Murray enjoyed a behind the scenes tour of work taking place to transform Liskeard’s historic Westbourne House into new headquarters for Cornwallbased broadband provider Wildanet.

Westbourne House is the subject of an extensive restoration and renovation project after Wildanet took on the lease from owners Cornwall Council in 2021.

The move was part of the company gearing up to roll-out its gigabit-capable fibre and wireless network in towns and villages

HOME SWEET HOME

across Cornwall, which is now under way and gathering pace.

Built in 1816 for solicitor NW Penrose, the house was once one of the grandest in the town and its gardens spanned what is now the Westbourne Car Park, with two connecting footbridges. In the latter part of the 19th century it was owned by Richard Hawke, then the wealthiest man in Liskeard.

Wildanet CEO Helen Wylde said: “We were delighted to show Mrs Murray the work under way at Westbourne House and to have the opportunity to update her on the progress of our rollout, bringing reliable, high speed internet access to homes and businesses in rural and hard to reach areas across Cornwall and the south west.”

A Cornish start-up has seen its value balloon to almost £9 million, following a recent investment round.

To mark its new investment success, tech company Codices is set to launch a new platform in the interactive gaming and entertainment space.

Codices, a spin out from Falmouth University’s Launchpad Venture Studio, has so far impressed streaming giants and entertainment platforms including Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus and The English Premier League with its live streaming and interactive entertainment tool, ‘Quiz Kit’. Undeterred by a challenging market in 2020, the start-up initially secured $800k of seed funding from Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund and Haatch Ventures and scaled up its team to more than 11 last year. The expansion helped them grow a monthly userbase of over 3.5 million viewers and 16,000 broadcasters around the word.

Codices founder Tim Edwards says the new valuation and investment is welcome news, which will enable the company to focus on its next big product which is soon to be announced.

He said: “We’re incredibly proud of the growth and progress we’ve made – it’s a real vote of confidence that our investors share our vision to democratise the process for creating live interactive shows. Our next product is built on the knowledge we’ve gained from Quiz Kit and we can’t wait to announce it very shortly.”

CODICES VALUE ROCKETS

FLEXI-HEX B CORP

Porthleven-based sustainable packing company, Flexi-Hex, has been awarded B Corp certification. Flexi-Hex joins a growing number of businesses across Cornwall and the world who are prioritising the environment and society above profit.

This is the only certification that measures a company’s entire impact and meets the highest verified standards of environmental and social performance, transparency, and accountability. It achieved an overall Impact score of 89.7, bypassing the 80 points needed to qualify and the median score for the average business being 50.9.

Co-Founder and creative director, Sam Boex, said: “B Corp for us is about being accountable. This is a huge badge of honour and it’s just the start of the journey. We see this as a guide that will help inform the strategy we have in place which in turn allows us to the make the very best decisions for people, planet and the journey ahead.”