LAW firm Ward Hadaway has secured a substantial investment in Arjuna Technologies.

Arjuna Technologies was formed in a management buy-out from the Hewlett-Packard Arjuna Lab, and is based at the Nanotechnology Centre, in Newcastle.

The company is a centre of excellence for transactioning and messaging technologies and delivers its products to Hewlett Packard and other information technology vendors.

Ward Hadaway secured the investment from the North-East Seed Capital Fund Limited Partnership, Capital North East No. 1 Ltd Partnership, Northern IT Research Fund and Northern Enterprise.

The capital will be used for the development, marketing and sale of new Internet services products, intended to add reliability to e-commerce systems.

Steve Caughey, chief executive at Arjuna Technologies, said: "With the assistance of this investment, we are now well placed to exploit our international reputation in this field and to deliver our specialist products to the market."

The Ward Hadaway team was led by business services partner Alex Shiel and corporate finance associate Richard Butts.

Mr Shiel said: "It is extremely positive to see continued investment into companies like Arjuna, which are helping the North-East lead the field in terms of technology transfer.

"This investment demonstrates that the demand for world-class research and development facilities within the region is a strong as ever."