Inovus Medical, a leading designer and manufacturer of medical and surgical simulators, has announced the successful completion of a £500,000 investment from NPIF - Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia Fund Managers and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.

The investment is part of a £700,000 investment round alongside an angel investor and will help to create four new jobs, accelerating the growth of Inovus Medical’s commercial operations in the domestic and international markets.

The company also plans to utilise the funding to add a suite of new 3D printing technologies to its manufacturing processes and introduce new software additions to its existing product offering.

Kumulos, a Scottish software company which has developed a platform for managing mobile apps, has completed a £750,000 funding round backed by Mercia Fund Managers, the Scottish Investment Bank and angel investors.  The Kumulos platform incorporates multiple tools to help companies and developers improve the performance of their mobile apps. The platform provides data on user engagement and allows them to optimize their ranking on the App Store and send notifications to customers.

A constant stream of funding success stories in the media, and the rise of more down to earth and approachable crowdfunding platforms, suggests it has never been easier to raise investment for your business. However, a recent report from the HM Treasury revealed that only 1 in 10 businesses secure seed funding in the UK and, despite shaking up the market, crowdfunding is not much easier with around a 63 percent success rate.

Independent jewellery company Fenton & Co. has announced its launch into the UK market, challenging the lack of transparency and pricing in the industry. The launch was enabled by a £850,000 seed funding round, led by social impact investor Mustard Seed. Investment was also received via The London Co-Investment Fund, as well as a number of angel investors, including two early investors into Bloom & Wild: Camila Dolan, and Akshata Murty.

‘Start-up Spotlight’ by Invested Investor, published in partnership with AngelNews:

In this issue of Startup Spotlight, EBAN President, Peter Cowley talks to the co-founder of Vantage Power, Alex Schey. Vantage Power designs and manufactures technology used in hybrid powertrains for new buses, as well as a retrofit solution for buses already on the road. Vantage Power's most recent award came in the form of the 'Most Disruptive Tech' at the UK British Angels Association awards 2017.

In this interview, Peter and Alex chatted about how Vantage Power took shape and about the lessons learned as an entrepreneur! 

HBAN says it plans to recruit 50 new female business angel investors over the next three years.

HBAN will run a series of events to encourage more female investors to invest in ambitious start-ups based on the island of Ireland seeking to expand internationally. The new female investors will bring a combined €10 million of new business angel funds.

John Phelan, national director, HBAN, said: “Angel investing is about much more than just the financial investment; it’s about the knowledge and expertise that the angel brings to the business. Many of our angels sit on their investee company boards and there is extensive research to show that companies with more gender diverse management teams perform better financially. At the moment, many local start-ups are missing out on the valuable experience that female investors bring.”

Fluentify, an online language tutoring platform that enables learners to perfect their spoken English, has raised £1.5m to develop its product and expand its offering into the French market. Headquartered in London, UK, Fluentify is one of the fastest growing among an emerging category of language learning startups - using machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help individuals learn a foreign language for both conversational and business use. The company, which is privately owned and operated by Fluentify Ltd, was founded by entrepreneurs Giacomo Moiso, Claudio Bosco and Matteo Avalle.

Suffolk-based biotechnology company, PBD Biotech Ltd, has announced that its key technology patent has been granted by the European Patent Office, covering its Actiphage technology that allows the sensitive and specific detection of live bacteria within six hours.

Leading cyber security software specialist, ZoneFox, has been sold by its shareholders – including Scottish business angel investment syndicates, Archangels and TriCap, Scottish Investment Bank and Napier University – to US-based Fortinet.

Kindaba, a private visual messenger for families, has secured investment from Gareth Williams ahead of their CrowdFunding Campaign. Kindaba helps customers stay connected with the promise of no adverts and a commitment to respect privacy and protect their data. 

The company aims to globally launch their new visual intelligent messenger for families and establish themselves as thought leaders in the FamTech (family technology) space over the next 12 months.

Dow Schofield Watts Angels has completed its second deal, with a £300,000 investment in Miribase Limited, the company behind the Shopblocks e-commerce platform.

Over 25 angel investors took part in the funding round, which will be used to accelerate Shopblocks’ revenues by investment in new sales and marketing resources.

The Shopblocks platform provides a hosted website and online shop solution for SMEs. Shopblocks makes it possible for businesses to launch a bespoke website in an easy and cost-effective way. It fills a gap in the market between inflexible, template-based platforms and custom-built websites which are typically developed by digital agencies at much greater cost.

Further to an extensive national study commissioned by The UKBAA and The British Business Bank, nationwide data reveals clear regional disparity across the UK, with a staggering 63% of business angels based in London and the South East. Further insights include: 

• 63% of Business Angel investments made in London and the South East
• 75% of Business Angels aged over 45 and 21% aged over 65
• Healthcare, Life Sciences, Fintech and Software as a Service most popular sectors for investment 

The British Business Bank’s UK Business Angels Market report - produced with the UKBAA - reveals a clear regional disparity in terms of where Angel investors are based and where they invest. Supported by a further independent body of data commissioned by the UKBAA on regional, ethnic minority and gender based perceptions on what it is to be an angel investor, an overriding and acutely skewed assumption that SME investment is preserved for ultra-wealthy, white, male Londoners has emerged. While potential investors of differing regional demographics may feel isolated from the investing arena, the repercussions for regional SMEs reliant on this kind of funding may limit innovation and employment growth outside of the capital.