Maven Capital Partners has promoted five senior staff to partnership positions. The strengthening of its partnership base reflects Maven’s continued growth and the wider range of investment opportunities it now offers. The newly promoted partners are Colin Anderson (Property), Suzanne Lupton (Co-investment), Ewan McKinnon (Private Equity), David Milroy (Private Equity) and Andrew Whiteley (Property).

Invizius, a University of Edinburgh spinout whose technology promises to improve the lives of millions of dialysis patients, has been named Best Innovative MedTech company at the prestigious OBN Awards.

Global technology investor Amadeus Capital Partners has announced the addition of two UK-based partners, Nick Kingsbury and Volker Hirsch, to its team of early stage venture capital investors. Nick’s investment focus will be on cyber security, AI and B2B software businesses while Volker’s expertise is in artificial intelligence & machine learning, human-machine interfaces, enterprise SaaS, autonomous systems, digital health and medical technologies.

UK-based tech firm, Gorilla in the room, has appointed Martin Fincham, the former CEO of global enterprise software company LANSA Group, as its chairman ahead of the company’s next funding round.

Following a seed investment from Mercia Fund Managers in January 2018, the business has launched Discover, a market leading immersive research mobile product, and is now raising further capital to transition from a service-based business to a subscription model.

Shieldpay, the secure payments provider, has been awarded an Innovate UK grant.  

The funding will be used to scale up Shieldpay’s Third Party Managed Account (TPMA) solution in the UK and lay strong foundations for Shieldpay to expand into the global real estate market.

In May this year, Shieldpay successfully completed the UK’s first fully digital real estate transaction with MyHomeMove and Barclays, with the support of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers and other industry stakeholders. The solution also enables parties to complete on transactions at anytime from anywhere, that includes completing a house purchase on a weekend or bank holiday.

VentureFounders has appointed Michael Gray to work with the company to build its Channel Islands presence.

Michael (pictured) is the founder of MMG Consulting Limited (MMG), a consulting advisory firm, as well as a Non-Executive Director of various global companies and private equity groups in Europe, UK and Japan.

Kuber Ventures has added two new SEIS funds to its business platform, accompanied by new iterations of two existing funds, further enhancing the fund range available.  Kuber has also appointed a new non-executive Chairman David Moss. 

A line-up of the most influential investors in European innovation will land in Paris this month for Invest Europe’s Venture Capital Forum, to discuss how to propel further the industry’s strong growth.

Last year, investment by European VC firms reached a ten-year high of €6.4 billion, while fundraising reached €7.7 billion, its second-highest result since 2007. Invest Europe, the association representing the European VC industry and its global investors, is hosting its annual Venture Capital Forum at the Pullman Tour Eiffel in Paris on 18 and 19 October. The programme includes a packed roster of panel discussions, roundtables and keynote speeches.

In-app ad-verification platform Pubguard has strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of the former president and chief operating officer of SYZYGY as its chairman.

Andy Stevens founded online media planning and buying agency Unique Digital in 2001, which he then sold to SYZYGY in 2010. Andy has a wealth of experience and has previously worked with a number of global blue chip clients, including Avis, Mazda and O2.

Elements Talent Solutions, a disruptor to the $200+ billion worldwide recruitment market, has received a £3.45m investment from BGF to accelerate its growth across Europe, the US and the APAC region.

While recent years have seen no shortage of technological innovation in the hiring market, Elements has pioneered a model which focuses on people and seeks to change the fundamental “transaction” mechanics of the industry. Its ‘embedded model’ involves Elements consultants working on-site within the client’s hiring function and partnering with them on every stage of the hiring process.

Pitch@Palace, the programme established by The Duke of York to guide and support Entrepreneurs in the development of their businesses, has  announced 42 entrepreneurs who have been selected to Pitch at Pitch@Palace Boot Camp on 4 October at Cambridge Judge Business School.

British Business Bank plc has appointed Catherine Lewis La Torre as CEO of the Bank’s patient capital activities delivered through its commercial arm.