Foresight Group has made a £749,000 growth capital investment into Promethean Particles Limited, a company specialising in the manufacturing of nanomaterials.  The finance boost will allow the firm to create new jobs, scale its production capabilities and enter untapped global markets.

The investment has been made using finance from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund and is part of a £1.25m funding round led by Foresight and supported by the University of Nottingham, East Midlands Early Growth Fund (managed by the British Business Financial Services), and other existing investors.

Freshworks Inc., the customer engagement software company, has announced the signing of definitive agreements for a $150 million series H round of funding at a post-financing valuation of $3.5 billion. The round was led by existing investors Sequoia Capital, CapitalG, and Freshworks’ first investor, Accel. The capital will be used to further Freshworks’ worldwide expansion as well as accelerate investment in its integrated SaaS platform. 

Shopblocks has raised funding from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s GM Investment Fund, its existing investor Dow Schofield Watts Angels (DSW Angels), and members of the management team to support its expansion in the UK and overseas.

Keensight Capital, one of the leading private equity managers dedicated to pan-European Growth Buyout investment, along with Naxicap, mid cap investor, has announced the signing of an exclusivity agreement with a view to buying a majority stake in the group Sogelink, a leading provider of vertical software solutions for infrastructure sector professionals. Keensight Capital will become the majority shareholder of Sogelink, alongside Naxicap, management and employees.

Angular Ventures has closed its debut fund at $41M for early-stage deep technology enterprise companies with global expansion plans based in Europe and Israel. The firm, which has been operating in stealth mode for nearly two years, has already built a portfolio of 12 companies with plans to make 5-7 new investments per year.

US and Israel-based cybersecurity company Sepio Systems, has raised a $6.5 million in Series A funding round led by Hanaco Ventures and Merlin Ventures, with the participation of existing investors Energias de Portugal (EDP), Mindset Ventures and Pico Partners. Since its establishment Sepio Systems has raised $11 million.

Immersive Labs, the world’s first fully interactive, on-demand and gamified cyber skills platform, has closed $40 million in funding led by global growth equity investor Summit Partners, with participation from existing investor Goldman Sachs. The investment will be used to support expansion initiatives in North America, where customer demand highlights a clear need to optimize cyber skills and guard against constantly evolving threats. The company believes this new round of funding illustrates how this dynamic technology is ushering in a new era of active training that enables professionals to acquire additional skills in richly immersive environments at their own pace and on their own schedules. 

GP Bullhound acted as exclusive financial advisor to Jellyfish on the strategic investment by Fimalac Group which will also see Tradelab (part of Fimalac Group) integrated into Jellyfish. The deal will put the value of the new enlarged Jellyfish at circa £500m.

BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor in growing businesses, has exited its investment in Thames Technology, one of the UK’s largest manufacturers and designers of payment, loyalty and gift cards. The business has been acquired by Paragon ID, the Paris-listed provider of identification and traceability solutions.

Israeli precision agriculture startup Agritask, which has been operating in bootstrap mode till recently, has completed an $8.5M Series A financing round, led by the InsuResilience Investment Fund and co-invested by Barn Investimentos. The InsuResilience Investment Fund was set up on behalf of the German government by KfW and is managed by Swiss-based impact investment manager BlueOrchard Finance. Barn Investimentos is a Brazilian early stage VC Investor focusing on high growth companies in ag-tech and in other industries.

Mafic, an innovative information company based at the Surrey Technology Centre near Guildford, has won a grant from the national SPRINT (SPace Research and Innovation Network for Technology) programme. Mafic will work with SPRINT partner, the University of Southampton on a major project to develop new machine learning solutions for heavy industries such as shipbuilding, rail, and oil and gas construction.

Cervest, the leader in Earth Science AI, has closed a £3.7m investment round to fund the launch of a revolutionary real-time, climate forecasting platform; a platform with the power to help decision makers manage risk, inform policy and one that could even help solve Earth’s most pressing environmental problems. 

Led by deep-tech investor Future Positive Capital, with co-investor Astanor Ventures, the pre-Series A funding round was oversubscribed on its initial £2.5m target and brings the company’s total to more than £4.5m.