CSignum, a wireless communications startup, has raised £2.6 million in funding from Archangels, PXN Ventures, Scottish Enterprise, British Business Bank and a group of US-based angel investors. Headquartered in Bathgate near Edinburgh, CSignum builds technology that carries data from beneath the surface of water, ice and ground.
Conventional wireless signals cannot pass through water, rock, soil or concrete, particularly at the surface-air boundary, leaving large parts of critical infrastructure either unconnected or dependent on cabling. Electromagnetic Field Signalling, the method behind the EM2 product portfolio, moves data through those media without cables, reducing cost and complexity for operators monitoring submerged and buried assets. Applications span utilities, maritime, offshore energy and environmental monitoring, with water quality measurement among the main use cases.
Growth in sales has been underpinned by the UK Section 82 (AMP8) Act, which requires continuous water quality measurements at combined storm overflows and at sewage discharge points. Utilities must monitor 25% of England's 14,000-plus CSOs during AMP8, running to 2030, with the balance of sites covered under AMP9 to 2035.
Since completing a £6 million investment with the existing investor group in April 2025, CSignum has moved from pilot projects into volume deployments with multiple UK water utilities and international customers. A 'smart buoy' project in the Gulf of Mexico is enabling new sensing capabilities, pilots with two major US water quality monitoring organisations have completed successfully, and the technology is supporting through-ground sensing for a large-scale critical infrastructure project in Asia.
John Nicholls has been appointed Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Jonathan Reeves, who transitions to the role of Chief Strategy Officer. Nicholls has held CEO and Chief Commercial Officer roles across photonics, quantum technologies, space, semiconductors and EV infrastructure, covering international sales growth, fundraising, M&A and strategic partnerships. Funding will be used to support commercial expansion and manufacturing scale-up. Founded in 2020, CSignum continues to add staff in the United Kingdom, USA and EU as it scales its operations.
I'm excited to be joining CSignum at this pivotal moment in its journey. The team has built a differentiated technology and strong customer relationships across diverse market sectors, and my focus now is turning that potential into large-scale deployments. More broadly, CSignum exists to close the communications gap between inaccessible parts of the physical world and the digital and AI systems that increasingly depend on them. This investment lets us do exactly that, faster.
CSignum continues to make strong commercial progress, and this investment reflects our continued confidence in the team and the technology, which is beginning to fulfil its potential of disrupting established markets. We're pleased to back John's transition into the CEO role as the business enters its next phase of growth.
The physical world has always been the hardest place to get data out of, particularly anything underwater or underground. CSignum's approach solves that without the cost and complexity of cabling, with monitoring requirements in water and other infrastructure sectors becoming more stringent. By backing businesses like CSignum, PXN is helping build critical UK infrastructure capability while supporting genuine deep tech that's found early commercial pull.
Scottish Enterprise is delighted to continue to support CSignum's ambition to transform how critical infrastructure is monitored through its pioneering wireless communications technology. Advanced sensing and connectivity technologies are a key growth opportunity for Scotland, and companies such as CSignum can play a vital role in strengthening our economy by scaling internationally, creating high-value jobs and bringing innovative Scottish solutions to global markets.
