As widely predicted in the weekend press, the regional investment business has announced a successful £12m fundraising. The funds from the placing will be used primarily to attract further staff and make more investments, with offices opening in the Midlands, the North East of England and Ireland within the next year. The Axiomlab approach, which will not change after the fundraising, is to take stakes of at least 20% in regional businesses specialising in e-commerce and technology. It looks at small companies, usually capitalised at under £5m, where it believes that it can provide advice and help as well as capital. One of the most notable features of Axiomlab is its network of directors and contacts, including Senator George Mitchell, the head of Microsoft in Scotland, the head of Cisco in Scotland and Ireland, and the chief executive of Sonera, a Finnish telecoms company.