SnapDragon Monitoring, an online brand protection business, has raised £1.2m in its latest funding round - bringing the total raised to just over £3m - from ACF Investors, Mercia, and Scottish Enterprise, to help brand owners identify and remove fakes, copycats and online threats, using intellectual property to do so.

DataMilk, an artificial intelligence (AI) tool which autonomously optimizes E-Commerce websites to improve the customer experience and drive increased sales, has raised a $1.7m seed round led by Brazilian VC big_bets, European investors RTP Global, and Berlin-based Angel Invest, with additional support from investor Matthew Freud and the founders of digital commerce platform VTEX to expand its product offering across the globe as it takes on more employees to drive forward product development.

Trojan Energy, the clean energy company, has secured a late seed round investment of £2.2 million to roll out its unique, flat-and-flush on-street EV (electric vehicle) charging hubs and develop further commercial applications of its technology.  The round was led by Scottish angel investors Equity Gap, and includes investment from Scottish Enterprise, SIS Ventures and Aberdeen-based angel investors Alba Equity.

Ryde (formerly Ryders), the SaaS (Software as a Service) platform for last-mile delivery, has raised £2.5m to continue to expand its vision to become the world's first fully integrated delivery management system.

Finnish startup Innomost has raised €5M to bring their birch bark innovation into new markets as a sustainable alternative for environmentally harmful ingredients in consumer products. The funding round was led by Metsä Spring Ltd. with Innovestor and angel investors joining the round. The round was completed with grants and loans from Business Finland as well as other public financing sources.

Manchester venture capital investor Praetura Ventures has unveiled a £15m commitment from British Business Investments, 

Kroo Ltd has raised £17.7 million in a Series A funding round led by tech entrepreneur and founder of Karlani Capital, Rudy Karsan. The capital raised will be used to mobilise the bank ahead of its launch in early 2022.  Kroo’s goal as a social bank is to remove friction from financial interactions with friends and family. Currently it does so by offering customers a prepaid debit card and innovative ways to track their personal and social finances – enabling them to easily create groups with friends, track spending, and split and pay bills quickly and securely.

Karshare, the community car-sharing app, has announced a £3million pre-series A round. In addition to existing strategic investors Fullbrook Thorpe, Adjuvo Syndicate and other angel investors Karshare is delighted to announce a significant investment by Saracens Football Rugby Club owner Nigel Wray.

Walking on Earth is coming out of stealth to tackle the rising issue of workplace stress exacerbated by the COVID pandemic and remote working. The digital platform has closed a £3 million seed funding round led by Octopus Ventures, which supported success stories such as Cazoo, Depop and Graze. Walking on Earth benefits from further backing from renowned UK founders.

Equality Check, the crowd-sourced employee review platform, has completed a €1.25m seed investment to fund product development and international expansion.  The Norwegian venture capital fund Alliance Venture lead the round, together with several angel investors and the global early-stage VC Antler, which chose to invest in the Oslo-based start-up for a third time.

Green Angel Syndicate has welcomed Qualis Flow to its portfolio of companies that are fighting Climate Change.  The UK-based company Qualis Flow closed their latest investment of $2.4M in July 2021, bringing their total raised to $3.5M. The female-founded technology company provides construction teams with the data they need to be more sustainable. 

A consortium led by Sunderland-based North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC), has secured up to an additional £2m from Innovate UK to further encourage Business Angels to bring investment and expertise to pioneering innovative small and medium companies across the North.