CroíValve, a medtech start-up providing a safe and effective treatment for tricuspid regurgitation, hasannounced that it has secured €3.2 million in an oversubscribed seed financing round. The round was led by the HBAN (Halo Business Angel Network) MedTech and Irrus Syndicates, alongside Atlantic Bridge University Fund, Enterprise Ireland, SOSV and a group of cardiologists who see the treatment’s transformative potential. The funding will support the continued development of CroíValve’s innovative technology.

The “HBAN Business Angel Syndicate” has been formed by HBAN - Halo Business Angel Network - to bring private investors together to back high potential early stage ventures.

Business angels who are members of the HBAN Business Angel Syndicate have participated in five deals during its first six months of existence.

Among the companies to recently benefit from business angel funding are innovative hair care product company We are Paradoxx, sports facility booking firm Pitchbooking and cyber security software specialist firm Uleska. Clarendon Fund Managers operating in Belfast since 2001 has been appointed to manage the HBAN Business Angel Syndicate.

Startup Funding Club has invested £100,000 into luxury lifestyle media brand The Jackal. 

Ozo Innovations (Ozo) announces that it has secured over £600,000 project funding from the Department of Business Energy Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator (IEEA) Programme managed by the Carbon Trust and Jacobs.

The IEEA aims to lower costs and increase the number of available energy efficient technologies for a range of industrial sectors, through demonstration of near to market innovations. This will help to reduce carbon emissions and improve the competitiveness of UK industry. The funding will enable Ozo to substantiate the significant energy savings that could be achieved by implementing Ozo’s eloclear® hygiene process.

Startup Funding Club ranks in the Top 5 Most Active Angel & Seed Investors in the World in PitchBook’s 2018 Global League Table.

Tim Allan is joining the board of Archangels, the leading angel investor group specialising in early stage technology and life sciences companies in Scotland. He succeeds Alastair Salvesen CBE, who is retiring from the Archangels board after 10 years. 

Archangels’ members invest in, and mentor, promising start-up and early stage companies from Scotland’s vibrant technology and life sciences sectors. Established in 1992, Archangels has made a significant contribution to the Scottish economy, with its investments leveraging an estimated ?1.2bn of GVA and creating around 4,000 highly skilled jobs. The current portfolio of companies employs over 650 people.

A new investor network has launched with the goal of building an ecosystem of entrepreneurialism and investment around the University of St Andrews. The St Andrews Angels of London will be an alumni-led investor group comprising seasoned investors, entrepreneurs, business leaders and alumni. The group will provide investment capital, strategic advice and mentoring to early stage businesses founded by St Andrews alumni or introduced by the group’s members. They will also support spinouts coming directly out of the University.

Glasgow based investment syndicate Kelvin Capital has moved into its tenth year of business by completing its biggest investment year yet.

A total of £10.5 million was invested across nine businesses in its portfolio in 2018, made up by eight follow on investments and one new investment. 

The Kelvin Capital portfolio covers sectors including internet and app technology, biotech, life sciences and electronic manufacturing and medical technologies and continues to support disruptive technologies with global ambitions. 

Angel Investment Network (AIN) the UK’s largest online platform connecting angel investors with startups has launched a new platform connecting female founders and investors. The new ‘Female Founders’ platform was set up to address the underrepresentation of women in the industry both as investors and founders.

In  this month's Startup Spotlight Invested Investor speaks to Ramona Liberoff, an experienced and dynamic investor with decades of business experience.

She is currently a Fellow of the Zinc VC programme and is an active angel investor, and was formerly the chief operating officer of the Innogy Innovation Hub and CEO of SPRING Accelerator. She is passionate about global system challenges that create major opportunities such as energy access, electromobility, automation, the use of data and machine learning.

VenueScanner has raised £1 million to roll out its sharing economy marketplace for booking venues.

VenueScanner aims to become the #1 online destination for events globally, changing the landscape of discovering and booking space online, by creating a simple and smart self-service platform for hosts and organisers.

Current investor Tom Singh explains: “We’re excited to continue to back the VenueScanner team. They've scaled a unique approach to innovating in the events market, with 18k spaces live across 15 UK cities. The range of companies using VenueScanner for finding event space, from Deloitte to Lululemon is testament to the product.

Growth in the UK private sector remained stagnant in the three months to February as momentum in early 2019 remained subdued, the latest Confederation of British Industry Growth Indicator showed on Sunday. Looking ahead, further decline is anticipated with private sector activity expected to fall slightly, in the quarter to May, with a negative balance of 4%.

Two trade associations, who work at policy level to help small businesses secure growth funding, and a private investment house specialising in alternative investment for SMEs, discuss the reasons behind the slowdown and the support needed for small businesses to prop up the private sector.