Scottish bio-tech company, BioCaptiva, has developed a novel next generation “liquid biopsy” technology device that could revolutionise the early diagnosis and monitoring of difficult to detect cancers.  The University of Edinburgh spin-out has raised over £1m in seed funding from Edinburgh-based business angel investment syndicate, Archangels, and Scottish Enterprise, to help develop the technology.  To prepare the company for this next stage in its development, BioCaptiva has appointed Dr Frank Armstrong FRCPE as non-executive chairman and Dr Stephen Little as a non-executive director.

Advantage Business Angels has raised £580k from its members as part of a £2.5m seed round for OneBanks Ltd a disruptive Fintech newcomer exploiting Open Banking Technology.

Butter, the London based fintech platform that started life as the UK’s first Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) travel agency, has just closed a £15.8m funding round to accelerate the rollout of its responsible open-banking based BNPL shopping app. 

A University of Nottingham spin-out which has developed a rapid test that could be a ‘game changer’ in combatting tuberculosis (TB) in livestock has secured a £2.3m investment to help bring its product to market.  The funding for PBD Biotech has come from a consortium led by fund managers Mercia and the Foresight Group, which were both investing through the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF); the University of Nottingham; the government’s Future Fund; and private investors including farmers and veterinary practices. 

Personal money app Ziglu has raised nearly £900,000 through Angel Investment Network, the world’s largest online angel investment network, as part of a £6.1m seed round. Ziglu, founded by Mark Hipperson, bridges the worlds of cash and crypto by providing safe, simple access to cryptocurrencies fully integrated with a GBP account and Mastercard debit card.

CAPSLOCK Education, a cyber-security education institute based in Manchester, has secured £540,000 in a pre-seed funding round from GC Angels, the Ufi VocTech Trust, Tynton Group, private angel investors and the UK government to reskill adults across the UK.  

Biomedical startup Adapttech has raised £2 million in a new venture capital funding round. The round was supported by existing investors including the MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, which is managed by Mercia and part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund;  Bionova Capital (formerly Hovione Capital), as well as new investors including ACF Investors, Wealth Club and Wren Capital.

A group of successful entrepreneurs from the Bristol area have set up a mechanism to provide seed-funding for early-stage start-up businesses in the South West.

It is a new venture for the well-established Bristol Private Equity Club (BPEC), which previously only invested in established enterprises with growth potential.

Have you thought abut what will happen to your Angel Investment portfolio when you are no longer around?  Modwenna Rees-Mogg considers this question and discusses some of the options that are available to angels in this scenario.

Data Duopoly, a Launchpad start-up has received backing from several angel investors which has unlocked further funding, sending the company into the next phase of expansion.

Fy!, the next gen home, living and lifestyle retail platform for today’s modern shopper, has announced a £5 million funding round led by Hoxton Ventures, with additional investment from a number of angel investors. The funding will enable the team to focus on growth in international territories including the USA, Australia and the EU, and speed up the innovation of their proprietary, machine learning driven technology platform.

Edtech marketplace, Preply, has secured an additional USD $35 million of funding, a sum that exceeds the platform’s cumulative fundraising efforts since 2013. The round was co-led by Owl Ventures and Full In Partners, with participation from previous investors Point Nine Capital, Hoxton Ventures, as well as EduCapital, All Iron, Diligent Capital and Evli Growth Partners. Angel investors Niklas Ostberg, co-founder and CEO of Delivery Hero, Arthur Kosten, co-founder of Booking.com, Przemyslaw Gacek, co-founder of Grupa Pracuj, and David Helgason, co-founder of Unity Technologies are also participants.