HBAN, the all-island organisation responsible for the promotion of business angel investment and a joint initiative between Enterprise Ireland, InterTradeIreland and Invest Northern Ireland, today announces that its winning streak at the European Business Angels Network (EBAN) annual congress has continued. Phorest, the HBAN-backed salon software company, was named most successful business financed by early stage investors at this year’s event in Helsinki.

The British Business Bank has welcomed Edward O’Hara as its new Chief Risk Officer.

Edward joins the Bank from The Commonwealth Trade Bank Plc, where he served as Chief Risk Officer from early 2017. He has had an extensive career in Risk and strategic leadership positions in a wide variety of international banking and finance institutions, including in the UK, USA, Poland and Bulgaria.

London-based investment manager Downing LLP has appointed Richard Lamb to its growing Property Finance investment team.

UK SMEs are losing out to big tech in the battle to recruit top tech talent, according to Robert Half UK’s new report, Recruiting for the future: The challenges for UK SMEs.

The white paper, which was based on an independent study of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) across the UK, found that three quarters (75%) of CIOs believe that it is more challenging for SMEs to attract tech talent because they prefer to work for larger technology companies. The lure of working for a household name instead of having a more significant role in a smaller company means that large tech companies appear to be winning the battle to recruit the industry’s highly skilled personnel.

YFM Equity Partners has appointed Helen Villiers as Investment Manager. Based at YFM’s London office, Helen will be focussing on supporting YFM’s new investment activity, working with the existing team to deploy funds into growing businesses at points of transformational change.

A new senior executive leadership team has been put in place at Montezuma’s following investment from Edinburgh-based private equity firm, Inverleith LLP, last year.

Keensight Capital, a leading private equity manager dedicated to pan-European Growth Buyout investments, has appointed Christophe Lavigne as Operating Partner.

With a huge shift in emphasis towards regional funding support, the Connected Investing event series, hosted by the UK Business Angels Association, will lift the lid on the latest initiatives open to both the investor and start-up communities. 

With the government driven Digital Economy Council announcing that twenty-two Unicorn businesses have originated outside of London, these events focusing on regional investment could not be more timely. The event will feature the latest updates from newly emerging funds, including the British Business Investments £100m fund and Innovate UK’s regional angel investment accelerator.

Funding Options has appointed David Keene to its senior leadership team as Chief Marketing Officer. In this role, David will be responsible for leading the marketing function at Funding Options to expand its customer base in the UK, Netherlands and Europe while also launching new products and solutions designed to support small businesses.

Independent Growth Finance (IGF), a leading independent commercial finance provider, today announces the appointment of John Allbrook as Non-Executive Chairman. John will continue to build on the successes of Matt Cooper, who, during three years as Chairman, helped IGF transition from a small financier to a major independent asset based lender.

Downing Ventures, part of London-based investment manager Downing LLP, has appointed James Nettleton as Principal of its 12-strong venture capital team.

finnCap Group plc, a leading adviser and broker to ambitious growth companies, is delighted to announce that it has expanded its debt advisory team with two senior new hires.