Prova, a global leader in automotive, cleantech and environmental communications, has further grown its investment portfolio with a stake in X Machines, a business aimed at delivering a worldwide marketplace for buyers and sellers of heavy plant equipment and services.
X Machines, the brainchild of 25 year old Alex Slowen, aims to provide a community for machinery sales across the mining, oil & gas, forestry, marine, construction and renewables markets, among others. Via a unique platform, buyers and sellers can access an international marketplace, rather than being limited by more traditional channels.
Slowen, who is delighted with the partnership and the latest investment round, noted: “Over the past few months, we’ve seen a significant amount of money committed to the business, allowing us to take the X Machines platform to market next month. We want to enable a global reach via innovative IT and digital engagement. By listing equipment and services via X Machines, organisations can interact with suppliers around the world. No other platform is trying to connect people and equipment, while bringing added value services to market.”
While Prova is a leading communications consultancy, it has spent the past five years investing in its cleantech client-base, as well as other businesses via university and business angel networks, as Prova’s Richard Postins explains;
“These are uncertain times for the UK economy but across the critical sectors of cleantech and transport, there is real drive, determination and innovation. As a society, we need to be looking for the right solutions and, at Prova, we’re committed to delivering success for the next generation. X Machines is an excellent example of disruptive capability and we look forward to working alongside the business as it goes from strength to strength.”
Slowen concluded with his vision for the business; “Five years from now, we want to be the dominant marketplace for heavy equipment, with a balanced buyer and seller network, offering outstanding customer service. Coming from a 50 year old family business dedicated to buying and selling machinery, we know the challenges and how to maximise the opportunities. We want to bring people and machinery together and create a global network with unlimited capacity.”
Alongside X Machines, the Prova team’s investment portfolio includes We Are Digital, Caption Data, Dymag and Kobus. The consultancy is one of very few communications businesses with an investment arm – meaning it can offer its clients real counsel across the communications, commercialisation and investment disciplines.
