A company which has developed an eco-friendly water treatment system that can reduce pollution levels has raised £550,000 to help roll it out to the water industry.  Industrial Phycology (I-Phyc) has secured a second round of funding from the MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, which is managed by Mercia and part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, and private investors.

MGB Biopharma, the Glasgow-based biopharmaceutical company developing a novel class of anti-infectives, has announced the successful conclusion of its Phase II clinical study into MGB-BP-3, for the treatment of Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI).

Expert cycle insurance provider Bikmo has secured its first venture capital funding of £1.8 million (Series A funding). The investment is led by Development Bank of Wales, alongside specialist global insurer Hiscox plus existing and new angel investors.  Part of the £1 million equity and loan investment by the Development Bank of Wales is enabling Bikmo to move into new premises in Flintshire. The award-winning adventure sports insurance provider Bikmo also has offices in Innsbruck, Austria and will relocate the UK head office to Flintshire as soon as Covid-19 lockdown restrictions will allow.

Port Talbot-based Hybrisan has joined the fight against the Covid 19 pandemic having secured £500,000 equity investment from the Development Bank of Wales, private investors and a Smart Cymru grant from the Welsh Government. Hybrisan manufacture liquid sanitiser and use advanced nanotechnology to produce highly advanced material, impregnated with the liquid sanitiser for use in high quality personal protective equipment (PPE) for the NHS and other frontline workers. The liquid sanitiser developed by Hybrisan is 99.999% effective in killing coronavirus without alcohol, even on surfaces.

There are some classic bear traps that new business angels should avoid if they want to get beyond that early exciting stage, and closer to the money making stage...

Smarterly, the digital wealth platform for the workplace, has secured £7 million investment to support its continued growth as it brings innovation to workplace savings, allowing people to save and invest directly through payroll. 

Edinburgh-based Reactec, has repurposed its proven system for monitoring workers’ exposure to health risk to create “Safedistance”, which enables employers to manage the social distancing of their workforce within construction, rail, manufacturing and other workplaces.

Financial firms need to adopt a digital-focussed working environment if they want to survive beyond current lockdowns, says Arches Capital. The Amsterdam-based Business Angels believe that strong technological foundations and connectivity have been among the main reasons why they have been able to support their members and the Dutch start-up ecosystem amid current social and economic uncertainty.

Business angel syndicates in Scotland participated in deals which invested over £100m in young entrepreneurial companies in the financial year to end March 2020.

Oxwash, the space-age laundry and dry-cleaning startup overhauling the traditional laundry service, has raised £1.4m investment from TrueSight Ventures, Biz Stone (co-founder of Twitter), Paul Forster (founder of Indeed.com), Founders Factory and other angel investors. Oxwash’s service is taking medical-grade laundry technology typically used in spaceship and hospital sterilisation and making it accessible to all.  The new investment will be used to expand Oxwash’s reach across South East England and scale the team.

A Newcastle tech start-up whose software helps sales staff to find and close new leads has raised £400,000 to further develop its product and expand its team.  Allegrow has secured funding from the North East Venture Fund (NEVF), which is supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Mercia, along with investment from Mercia’s EIS funds and a number of private investors.

Allegrow is a sales automation platform for business to business companies – where generating new opportunities is a top priority. The platform puts sales representatives in touch with key decision-makers in their target industries through data-driven outreach, which allows them to attract more leads and book more meetings.

The world's leading online Karaoke channel, Sing King, has raised £550,000 via Angel Investment Network (AIN), the world’s largest online angel investment platform as part of a seed funding round. Sing King offers high quality karaoke content via its YouTube channel and has over 90 million views per month

The raise took just seven weeks on the platform (the original £400k target was notably achieved within 4 days) with the money raised being used for launching standalone apps across IOS & Android as well as a web platform.