Par Equity, the leading Scottish EIS Fund Manager, has appointed former Olympic skier Andrew Noble as a Partner.

Creative England will inject £24million of growth finance into the creative industries.  The scale-up finance will be directed to post-revenue creative businesses presenting promising growth potential.

Serving as the first initiative of its kind, the loan facility – backed by Triodos Bank UK – will be deployed across the length and breadth of the British Isles, encouraging sustained growth of a £100billion industry in which 75% of SMEs are predicted to grow in the next 12 months.

Children are naturally creative, but these entrepreneurs capitalised on their ideas by creating huge businesses from scratch. 

Leading SME direct lender Beechbrook Capital has appointed Paul Whitehouse as investment director to head up deal origination and execution activity across the Midlands. With over 30 years’ experience, Paul joins from Lloyds Banking Group, where he spent the last two decades focusing on corporate and leveraged finance transactions across the Midlands.

The University of Warwick has received one of its largest donations from an individual to establish a new Fintech research centre.

The £3 million donation has been made by Clive Gillmore, founder and Group CEO of Mondrian Investment Partners and an alumnus of the University of Warwick.

The Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology will be housed at Warwick Business School and will bring together the school’s existing research in the area along with a host of new appointments.

Idinvest Partners, a leading investor in SMEs across Europe, has appointed Sylviane Guyonnet, COO of Idinvest, and Eric Gallerne, Co-Head of Private Debt Strategy, as Managing Partners.

A wealth of local, national and global experts in innovation will come together in central Newcastle next month with the aim of inspiring over 800 businesses of all sizes as part of this year’s VentureFest North East.

As the region’s flagship innovation conference, the event provides cross-sector opportunities for collaboration, presenting local businesses with an opportunity to connect with like-minded organisations, learn about the latest trends in innovation and the chance to secure the funding they may need to grow or expand into new markets.

Triple Point has appointed Jennifer Ockwell as Partner and Head of Institutional Sales.

Invest Europe has appointed Eric de Montgolfier as new CEO to lead the world’s largest association of private capital providers and investors.

Livingbridge has appointed Andy Harrington, Robyn Smith and Tom Smith as investment managers, alongside two further hires in the business. 

Deutsche Handelsbank has welcomed Jens Munk and Dr. Frank Schlaberg as Co-CEOs and plans to accelerate its growth. 

Law firm Ashfords LLP has bolstered its Financial Services team with the hire of Legal Director Cynthia Ma.