Broadband connectivity specialist, FarrPoint, has opened its second overseas office on the back of a new partnership with US consultancy firm, Vernonburg Group. 

The two companies will combine their expertise and resources to create a ‘one stop shop’ of support services, to help state and territorial governments in the US deliver affordable high-speed broadband to all their citizens.  

The new office in Boston, Massachusetts, builds on Edinbrugh-based Farrpoint’s office and subsidiary which opened in Canada in early 2020.

Dr Andrew Muir, CEO and founder of FarrPoint, said: Our extensive experience in the UK and Canada stands us in good stead to support the US market. We’ve accumulated a wealth of knowledge on the selection of broadband suppliers through major procurement programmes, together with the deployment management that follows.”  

Glox raises funds

Glox Therapeutics, a Glasgow-based developer of antibiotics, has raised £4.3 million in seed funding which will be used to develop its product and set up labs in Scotland and Oxford.

The round was led by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Scottish Enterprise.

Glox was set up in February by Prof Daniel Walker from the University of Glasgow (now at the University of Strathclyde) and Prof Colin Kleanthous, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci), from the University of Oxford. It is led by CEO Dr James Clark.

Call for energy regulator

Business leaders in the north east have called for the creation of a regulatory body for the energy sector.

Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce believes an independent organisation would help to protect the industry from the major policy changes and uncertainty which have surrounded the oil and gas sector.

The chamber argueds that energy is too important to be a political football and it repeated its concern that policies such as the energy profits levy, or windfall tax, have damaged investment and confidence across the UK continental shelf.