Crypta Labs, an innovative Internet of Things security company that is developing the world’s first portable quantum hardware security device for improving encryption protocols, is finalising £1.5m of funding, with one Henley Business Angels member participating in the funding round.

Simudyne, a simulation technology company, has announced that it has closed a $6 million Series A fundraise, led by Barclays alongside a distinguished set of institutions.

The new funding round includes Graphene Ventures, an early investor in Snap and Lyft, and Gauss Ventures, whose team were early investors in Revolut and Tandem, bringing total capital raised since Simudyne was formed to $10 million.

A British entrepreneur has seen his company achieve its £500,000 crowdfunding target, giving it the green light to roll-out technology to reduce the 16 million metric tonnes of Nitrous Oxide produced by the US transportation sector annually.

Daniel Mitchell’s company addvantage USA Ltd says the technology, which has already been proven in Europe, can help American haulage companies reduce the diesel consumption of their vehicles by up to 17.6% and reduce NOx emissions by up to 83%. Mitchell is a former Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and his last company was part of the Virgin Fast Track 100.

Tech Nation, the UK network for ambitious digital tech entrepreneurs, has revealed the 24 dynamic, fast-growing, late-stage technology companies selected to join its prestigious Future Fifty cohort in 2019.

Future Fifty, established in 2013 to champion and support British tech businesses as they scale up their operations nationally and internationally – offering a window into the UK’s digital future. The programme supports these companies in creating jobs and opportunities across the UK, and inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Acre, the next-generation mortgage, protection and general insurance platform, has announced an exclusive arrangement with Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG), one of the UK’s largest distributors of financial advice, coupled with a £5 million investment from Aviva and SBG. The deal will help transform the way mortgage and protection advisers process business and service their clients.

Intechnica, the Manchester-based technology business, has closed a £2.85million funding round led by investment group Mercia.

The lead investment of £2.0million came from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia Fund Managers and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund. An additional £750,000 was invested by Mercia Technologies PLC and £100,000 by existing private investors as part of the funding round.

Over 40% of Scotland’s tech start-ups and scale-ups are targeting the US market for growth but have found access to finance the biggest barrier to their ambitious plans.  That’s one of the key findings from a new survey of 100 data-driven tech start-ups and scale-ups, undertaken ahead of this year’s Engage Invest Exploit (EIE) by the event’s organiser Informatics Ventures, and conference sponsor TalentSpark.

Partnership will support collaboration between five SPRINT universities and high growth SpaceTech start-ups.

The national SPRINT (SPace Research and Innovation Network for Technology) programme has entered into a partnership with Seraphim Space Camp, (Seraphim Capital’s SpaceTech accelerator).

The partnership with SPRINT will enable Seraphim Space Camp companies to access university expertise, help to accelerate the growth of their products and services, and will also support long-term collaboration between SPRINT universities and high-growth space companies.

Sceenic has raised its seed round through Startup Funding Club to continue expanding its “Watch Together” SaaS solution

Startup Funding Club (SFC) has led the seed investment round into Sceenic, a B2B SaaS technology company that powers interactive co-viewing experiences for some of the world’s best media companies with its “Watch Together” software. Utilising its real-time video chat API and SDKs, Sceenic enables people who are physically apart to watch video and TV together.

Growth capital investor VGC Partners has announced the close of Fund II at £50.25m, to target UK-based consumer, media and tech companies.

WestBridge Capital has acquired a majority shareholding in and provided growth capital to Wilcomatic Limited, one of the UK’s leading providers of vehicle and rail wash systems.

A bond offer in Dove Renewables, which operates two hydro schemes in Ashbourne (Derbyshire) and in the River Teign in Devon, has raised £1.1 million on the Triodos crowdfunding platform.

The 11-year bond will pay 5% gross interest per year index linked. The money is being used to refinance existing higher cost bonds raised to finance construction of the scheme in 2016.

Both schemes benefit from the Government’s 20-year Feed in Tariff support mechanism for renewable energy. The Ashbourne scheme delivers wide ecological benefits in terms of fish migration in the River Dove and both schemes provide enough clean electricity every year to power the equivalent of 200 homes.