Wild Cosmetics, a design-led personal care start-up who pioneered the UK’s first plastic-free refillable deodorant in 2019 has closed £5m from existing investors to double down on its mission to remove single-use-plastics and unnecessary chemicals from everyday bathroom routines.

Umazi, the due diligence platform automating enterprise identity verification, 

Semarion Ltd, a University of Cambridge spin-out company from the Cavendish Laboratory combining materials engineering and cell biology to tackle unmet drug screening needs, has closed a £2.14 million GBP seed funding round. The investment round was led by Parkwalk Advisors, with the University of Cambridge Seed Funds, Martlet Capital, and angel investors also contributing to the fundraise.

Backbone, a platform powering game streaming and core gaming on mobile devices, has announced a $40M capital raise in Series A funding.

Babbu, an early development ed-tech company that has launched an online nursery app to support the parents and guardians of children under five years old, has received investment from members of Henley Business Angels, contributing to their overall funding round.

SpaceBands, a company that creates wearable technology solutions to make workplaces safer by tracking social distancing, decibel levels and more, has received investment from Henley Business Angels members contributing to a total funding round of £600k.  SpaceBands first wearable technology product combines a wrist worn device and a small portable hub as an ‘all-in-one’ solution that gives members of staff responsibility for their own safety without intruding on their work.

The month, Modwenna Rees-Mogg considers the storm clouds gathering across the angel market.  Should you buy a helmet made of gold or heave to with the wind to your starboard bow?

A young British business owner who was declared “Britain’s best boss” after he let his staff have the day off on full pay when lockdown restrictions lifted last year has raised £2.5M in seed funding for new elderly care search platform, Lottie, just six months after winning initial backing off Monzo’s founder to launch it.  Exasperated by their own experience of searching for a care home for their Grandma, entrepreneur Chris Donnelly and healthcare expert brother Will Donnelly, launched Lottie in July 2021 - a free digital healthcare marketplace, helping families minimize the time, stress and cost of finding quality compassionate care homes.

A Northumberland-based AgriTech firm has secured a six-figure investment and received innovation grant funding to transform how farmers and rural landowners manage their assets.  Drone Ag established its business delivering aerial crop scouting, spraying, and mapping using drones and smart data-analytics and has gone on to secure a mix of Innovation funding to expand their operation into developing a drone-based solution to soil sampling.

A doctor who has developed an app to help reduce anxiety in children undergoing surgery has raised £1.5m from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), Mercia’s own funds and private angel investors.

Gabriel IS has completed an exit deal with Scottish biotech business CuanTec after the company secured a significant investment from Hive Energy Ltd., one of the UK’s largest renewable energy and cleantech project developers.

Atelerix, a business at the forefront of cell preservation with aims to revolutionise the way we store, and transport cells and tissues, has raised £425,574 investment to help fully commercialise their product and bring it to market.