Vector, a UK startup at the heart of a rapidly growing retail media landscape, has launched this week, with over half a million pounds in investment from an independent group of investors.

The British Business Bank’s third annual Nations and Regions Tracker, published this week, finds the use of external finance among smaller businesses is showing signs of recovery in early 2023, after a decline in most UK Nations and regions in 2022. 

The Turmeric Co. has closed a Series A funding raise, after attracting investment for growth from a number of high-profile investors including comedian and TV presenter, Joel Dommett, with the Rubicon Drinks family confirmed as a cornerstone investor.  

Former Wales international and Premier League footballer, Thomas Hal Robson-Kanu, founded the company after finding turmeric shots invaluable in recovering from a potentially career-ending knee injury. Despite being prescribed medication from doctors, Thomas had severe inflammation and chronic pain whenever he played,  so began to research alternatives with his dad.  

Zixty, a new insurance company helping cover people on their journeys with on-demand, flexible eco-friendly insurance products, is seeking £500k for product development & customer growth.  Find out more HERE about the opportunity and how to invest.

In anticipation of the European Angel Investment Summit 2023 (#EAIS23), we had the privilege of sitting down with astronaut and keynote speaker Christer Fuglesang. As the first Swedish citizen in space, a physicist, and an advocate for space exploration and investment, Fuglesang shared insights into his remarkable journey and the exciting opportunities in the world of angel investing within the space tech sector.

The British Business Bank has supported more than £12.4bn of finance through its core programmes and met its objectives,

Green Angel Ventures has completed an investment in heata, a home heating innovation coming from data centres. Heata is a groundbreaking green distributed computing network that uses the waste heat from cloud computing to heat the water in people's homes. Founded in 2017 as a British Gas innovation project aimed at supporting people living in fuel poverty, heata enables companies to significantly reduce their carbon footprint while saving families up to £450 per year on their energy bills.

Turquoise, the UK merchant bank specialising in energy, environment and efficiency, has announced an investment by Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 (LCIF2) in Archipelago Technology Group. This forms part of a capital raising round of nearly £1.5 million comprising both equity and an Innovate UK grant provided under the Future Economy Programme. Co-investors in the equity round included members of the management team, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Business Growth Company and several angel investors.

The British Business Bank is launching its new £150 million Investment Fund for Scotland unlocking additional funding to help smaller businesses to prosper and thrive.

The Government has appointed Stephen Welton CBE as the new Non-executive Chair of the British Business Bank.

Stephen Welton takes over from Lord Smith of Kelvin, who has held the position for six years since September 2017. In 2013, Stephen was appointed as an advisor to the UK Government regarding the establishment of the British Business Bank and, in 2017, served as a member of the Industry Panel advising HM Treasury on the Patient Capital Review. He was also a member of the Prime Minister’s 2021 Business Council and member of the Innovate Council 2018-2021.

The final of the Business Angel of the Year Award has just ended: Roberto Marsella is the "Best Angel Investor of Italy 2023".

The OnePlanetCapital Climate Change EIS fund has led a £1.7m round into the groundbreaking technology company MDFRecovery. MDF Recovery has a patented solution for the only effective industrialised process to recycle Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) at scale.