Following his landslide election victory in December, Boris Johnson announced plans for significant government spending in regions around the UK including the North, the Midlands and Wales. The plans, which are being considered ahead of the upcoming Budget, aim to reduce inequality and boost jobs and growth.

Guernsey Finance, the promotional agency for the island’s finance industry internationally, has appointed Rupert Pleasant as its new Chief Executive.

Livingbridge has made four new appointments to its investment team as well as a new Head of Marketing, based across the firm’s offices in London, Manchester and Boston. 

In his latest article for AngelNews, James Murdoch discusses reasonable investor expectations of equity crowdfunding platforms responsibility for disclosure  and managing investments.

Following a successful 2019 and a strong start to 2020, Finstock Capital has now deployed over £12m into early stage businesses, supporting the UK venture ecosystem with access to capital at a critical time of a company's need.

Whitham Group, an assembler and supplier of waste recycling systems, has completed an MBO which has enabled investors introduced by Acceleris Capital to exit their investment with a total return, after EIS tax relief, of almost 3 times the cost of their original investment. 

Montane, the UK outdoor clothing and accessories company founded over 25 years ago, has received investment from Edinburgh-based specialist consumer brand investor Inverleith LLP, which has secured a majority stake in the company.  Montane has established itself as the leading European specialist brand of lightweight, breathable outdoor clothing and equipment for fast-paced mountain sports. Established in 1993, Montane focuses on serving committed and highly active hillwalkers, mountaineers, climbers and trail runners.

QVentures has made an investment in SaaS start-up Smartia, which provides artificial intelligence solutions to industrial companies. 

Smartia provides AI solutions that connect and transform industrial data into actionable insights. MAIO, Smartia’s Industrial Intelligence platform, combines edge computing, big data technology and AI-driven applications to provide a complete digital solution for the manufacturing and engineering industries. The Industrial Intelligence platform gives users the tools to do jobs faster, easier and more efficiently.  

Insurance platform Collective Benefits has closed a £3.3 million seed round led by U.K.-based Stride.VC, alongside existing investors Delin Ventures, Insurtech Gateway and several angels from executives at Uber, Deliveroo and Urban.

HISBE Food CIC, a social enterprise and sustainable supermarket, has now raised its full target of £450,000  through an investment crowdfunding campaign on the Triodos Crowdfunding platform. HISBE’s mission is to transform the food industry, by reinventing the way supermarkets do business.

The o2h Therapeutics and AI Fund, hjas invested in Neurofenix, an innovative digital health company empowering stroke survivors and their families to get their life back.

Aventus, the London-based B2B insurtech business and insurance operating system originally created for the MGA Homelyfe, has closed a £2.6m investment led by Outward VC and Notion Capital with participation from TriplePoint and Downing Ventures. The £2.6m investment will be used to scale up the business.

Aventus's modular Insurance Operating System, allows insurers to create policies and automatically quote and bind in under a minute, asking minimal questions.