Edinburgh based private equity fund, Inverleith LLP, has invested further into Braham and Murray Good Hemp, a plant based food and drink brand which manufactures products from hemp seed.

Inverleith LLP invests into consumer brand companies within the health & wellbeing, lifestyle and heritage sectors. It specialises in internationalising and commercialising brands, helping them to realise their full potential. Its Partners are ex Chairman and Chief Executive of Noble Group, Ben Thomson and ex Chief Executive of The Glenmorangie Company and Partner L Capital (LVMH), Paul Skipworth.

Profit with purpose food company Farmstand has raised $3 million, led by Kindred Capital.  The funding will support the compnay in its mission to make a healthier plant-powered diet accessible to all.

Foresight portfolio company, The Naked Deli, has opened its world-first airport outlet at Newcastle International Airport.

Oddbox, London’s biggest independent wonky fruit and veg box scheme, reached its crowdfunding target in record time to enable it to expand its unique service to even more customers. It initially hoped to raise £350,000 but investors saw the huge potential offered by the business and it over-funded to a tune of £520,000.

Beauhurst has published its analysis on the craft beer sector in the UK.

Mission Mars, the North West operator behind hospitality concepts including Albert’s Schloss and Rudy’s Neapolitan Pizza, has received £10m from BGF to continue with its ambitious growth plans.

The North West BGF team has invested nearly £70m since late 2017. This includes new investments such as digital mapping company Gaist and brake manufacturer, EBS as well as additional funding for portfolio companies High Access, NWC Group and Kids Planet. This year, BGF became the first and only investor to be honoured for Innovation in the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

Bean-to-bar chocolate company MIA is celebrating after exceeding its crowdfunding target of £100,000 on the Seedrs platform.  

Mimica Lab, a business that produces award-winning technology designed to reduce waste in perishable products such as food and pharmaceuticals, have received investment from Henley Business Angels members to contribute to their funding round.

Healthy food retailer MuscleFood.com, which is backed by BGF Ventures, has been crowned specialist online food retailer of the year at The Grocer Gold Awards.

The company beat off tough competition from other household names to scoop the accolade. The annual awards celebrate success across the £200 billion-pound grocery sector with entrants from the big multinationals, independent retailers, start-ups and industry disruptors.

Jenson has made an investment from the Jenson SEIS and EIS Fund 2017/18 in EBar Initiatives Limited. Jenson led an investment syndicate alongside Scottish investors including angel investor groups Gabriel and Equity Gap.

EBar Initiatives aim is to dramatically improve the consumer experience at music and sports events, using their innovative dispensing technology to reduce the time people spend waiting in bar queues. The EBar® is a consumer-operated beverage-dispensing unit capable of rapidly and continuously dispensing perfect pints of beer or soft drinks, taking payment and dispensing drinks up to 3 times faster than is possible at traditional event bars.

Foresight Group has invested £2.5 million of growth capital into The Naked Deli Limited.

Launched in 2014, The Naked Deli operates a number of sites in Newcastle, offering a health-conscious and clean-eating dining experience, with a tasty range of gluten and dairy-free, vegan and paleo dishes. The first site opened in Heaton and after a strong social media campaign, reached full capacity in the first week.

TriSpan, a global Private Equity firm, is pleased to announce that Rising Stars, its dedicated restaurant platform, has acquired a majority investment in Rosa’s Thai Cafe, the fast-growing UK-based Thai restaurant group.