Origin Capital has announced that it led a syndicate supporting Echion Technologies in its recent £1.5m round to fund its development of advanced lithium-ion batteries.  Echion is a Cambridge University spin-out that is working to produce batteries that will charge at an order of magnitude faster rate as compared to conventional technology, without compromising energy density, safety, cost, ease of manufacture or durability.

W2, a provider of SaaS, B2B software solutions and services has today announced it has completed a £3 million Series A round of financing with investment from investors Mercia Technologies PLC and the Development Bank of Wales.  

This substantial funding builds on an exceptional year for W2 which saw a rapidly growing list of clients, key employee appointments and market momentum in target sectors such as emerging payments, betting and gaming.

This funding will help W2 to further expand its sales and marketing efforts as well as broaden and accelerate product development and extend its global reach.

The Development Bank of Wales’ latest fund, the Wales Angel Co-investment Fund, will provide its first £90,000 of match funding to a syndicate of five business angels investing in Drone Evolution.

Lead investor, Andrew Diplock is former MD of UES Energy, a company formed in Caerphilly which he grew to a successful exit in late 2015. Andrew invests solely in Welsh rooted businesses and is also a member of the Welsh Government’s Valleys Taskforce in addition to being a Governor at Coleg y Cymoedd.

Kumulos, a Scottish software company which has developed a platform for managing mobile apps, has completed a £750,000 funding round backed by Mercia Fund Managers, the Scottish Investment Bank and angel investors.  The Kumulos platform incorporates multiple tools to help companies and developers improve the performance of their mobile apps. The platform provides data on user engagement and allows them to optimize their ranking on the App Store and send notifications to customers.

Beauhurst highlights the UK’s fastest growing tech startups in 2018.

Mercia Technologies portfolio company nDreams, the award-winning virtual reality (VR) developer and publisher, has set up a dedicated team to create VR games and experiences for the fast-growing location-based entertainment (LBE) market. The first two titles, Shooty Fruity Arcade and Perfect Balloon Flight, will hit arcades in the coming months.

Shooty Fruity Arcade sees the critically acclaimed home VR game tailored specifically for an over-the-top arcade experience, giving even more people the chance to prove their skills as a mutant fruit-shooting checkout assistant! nDreams has joined forces with the likes of Ctrl V, VR Junkies, SynthesisVR and SpringboardVR as key arcade partners, with the game launching this winter.

Kernel Capital and Suir Valley Ventures have invested €2.25 million in Dundalk based Nova Leah Ltd. The round was led by the Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Growth Fund (RoI), with a €1.5M investment. Nova Leah has developed a pioneering cybersecurity compliance solution for medical device manufacturers and healthcare providers. It has been designed to improve the security of connected medical devices, improve patient safety and reduce associated regulatory costs. The platform has global deployments with a blue chip customer base.

Scottish startup Cyan Forensics, which develops digital forensic technology to help law enforcement catch criminals faster, has closed a £900,000 investment round led by Mercia Fund Managers, bringing its total funding to nearly £1.5million since it was founded in 2016.

InMotion Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s venture capital fund, today announces its investment in Arc, which today unveils ‘Vector’ – the world’s first fully-electric motorcycle with Human Machine Interface (HMI). Arc Vector is the most advanced electric motorcycle ever brought to market, using exotic materials, thoroughbred componentry and cutting-edge architecture, wrapped in a futuristic body.

The investment from InMotion Ventures, along with Mercia Fund Managers, the Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund which is part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, and a number of industry specialist angels, will support Arc with its global ambition for Vector to be the cleanest, safest, and most fulfilling motorcycle on the road.

A pioneering actively managed cryptocurrency solution has been launched by deVere which has founded the deVere Digital Asset Funds, a suite of digital currency solutions for experienced investors, in association with Dalma Capital Management Limited, a prominent hedge fund manager in the Dubai International Financial Centre. 

Foresight Group has invested £2.5 million to support the growth of North Wales-based software provider Cimteq Limited.

This is the thirteenth investment by the £58 million Foresight Regional Investment Fund (“FRIF”), focused on North Wales and the North West of England. Since December 2015 the Fund, backed by local institutional investors including the Clwyd Pension Fund, has supported the creation of 260 new jobs across the investment area. Cimteq marks the Fund’s first investment into the thriving North Wales SME community, supporting growth in the region.

Located in Wrexham, Cimteq specialises in the development, supply and support of modular software solutions for the wire & cable manufacturing industry. The Company currently offers two main software products to wire & cable manufacturers; CableBuilder, a software solution aiding the design of cables, and CableMES, a full manufacturing execution system.