A HI-TECH aluminium welding company has discovered a gap in the market that is bad news for the boss.

Techno Weld, of Aston, near Witney, needs £300,000 to hit the big time and exploit a product that customers are ready to queue up and buy.

But boss Graham Newman, 51, says he cannot raise the money even though the comparatively small investment would make sales of his revolutionary way of rolling aluminium rocket upwards from the £100,000 annual level of today, and also raise the number of employees from three.

He is hit by the gap in the fundraising market which applies to hi-tech firms that need a comparatively small sum of money.

Venture capitalists will supply sums of about £2m. Companies needing less are considered too small for help.

Mr Newman, who remortgaged his house last year to keep the business afloat, said: "People who run big companies do not know how small companies start."

He added: "To spend up to £2m we would need to spend the money on smoked glass in the office and a fleet of cars."

As a hi-tech company he has also approached business angels, but says that they were mainly retired executives.

He said: "They had the money but not the technical expertise."

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