S4C Digital Media Limited
Canolfan S4c Yr Egin, College Road, Carmarthen, Wales, SA31 3EQ, United Kingdom
Overview
S4C is the only Welsh language television channel in the world. As a public service broadcaster, it commissions independent producers from across Wales to make the majority of its programmes. ITV Cymru Wales is also commissioned to produce programmes. BBC Cymru Wales provides around 10 hours of programming per week for S4C, including the news and daily soap Pobol y Cwm, funded out of the licence fee. S4C broadcasts over 115 hours of programmes each week, including sport, drama, music, factual, entertainment and events, across a range of platforms, including online. S4C offers comprehensive services for children: Cyw for younger viewers, Stwnsh for older children and programmes for teenagers. And the programmes are available in HD on Sky and Freesat in Wales and across the UK. Since April 2013, most of S4C's income comes from the licence fee via the BBC Trust with a proportion coming from the UK government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). S4C also has some powers to generate its own commercial income, for example, through advertising sales.
- Total investments
- 1
- Lead investments
- 0
- Investments · 12mo
- 0
- Active investors
- 4
Sector focus
- Broadcasting
- News
- TV
Investment portfolio
- Kubos Semiconductors
Participated · Seed · May 2024
Kubos Semiconductors develops cubic‑phase gallium nitride (GaN) materials aimed at improving micro‑LED performance, particularly by doubling red micro‑LED efficiency. Its core technology is positioned to enable clearer, brighter and more efficient displays for augmented‑reality and virtual‑reality applications, and the company plans to enter the micro‑LED display market within three years through IP licensing. Kubos recently raised a $2m investment, bringing total funding to $5.5m, and has also secured a £700,000 Innovate UK grant to advance 5%-efficient red micro‑LEDs. The company was spun out of the University of Cambridge in 2017 and has relocated to Wales to leverage regional compound‑semiconductor expertise and infrastructure. Kubos has attracted support from seasoned industry figures and strategic backers—Martin Lamb, Drew Nelson, Geoff Haynes, the Development Bank of Wales, FOV Ventures and S4C Digital Media Ltd—who are said to bring market and technical insight for AR/VR opportunities. The firm also highlights that its cubic GaN can be significantly faster than conventional hexagonal GaN for visible light communications, and intends to commercialize via IP licensing rather than manufacturing displays itself.