G.Network and Albion have closed an agreement with Cube Infrastructure Fund II, whereby Cube II is providing an initial GBP60 million of additional funding to G.Network.

Investment manager, Downing LLP, is partnering with Pivot Power to build a £25 million grid-scale energy storage battery as part of a £1.6 billion national network.

Suffolk-based biotechnology company, PBD Biotech Ltd, has announced that its key technology patent has been granted by the European Patent Office, covering its Actiphage technology that allows the sensitive and specific detection of live bacteria within six hours.

Leading cyber security software specialist, ZoneFox, has been sold by its shareholders – including Scottish business angel investment syndicates, Archangels and TriCap, Scottish Investment Bank and Napier University – to US-based Fortinet.

Two award-winning inventors with a mission to develop more sustainable batteries have secured £150,000 to help launch their latest product from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund’s Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, managed by Mercia Fund Managers.

Amrit Chandan and Carlton Cummins of Aceleron have achieved a world first by developing a lithium battery which can be fully serviced to give it a much longer lifetime. The Circa battery has already made pilot sales for domestic energy storage and electric vehicles and gained approvals to be sold in the EU. Aceleron has also found a way to turn waste battery components into second-hand batteries.

Raremark, the leading patient-data platform in rare disease, has raised £3m in funding from investors, led by AlbionVC and Ananda Ventures, with participation from Oltre Venture and from existing major investor the Cass Entrepreneurship Fund.

The UK’s leading tech clusters are competing head to head with European capitals, according to new analysis of company growth, in a sign that the success of the UK tech sector is pushing far beyond its London heartland.

Following the IPOs of Farfetch and Funding Circle, the UK is now home to 15 unicorns and six cities have produced so-called unicorns - $1bn tech companies - according to research prepared for Tech Nation and the Government’s Digital Economy Council by venture capital analytics company Dealroom.co. This latest research is published ahead of the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s first meeting with the Digital Economy Council on 24 October 2018.

Kindaba, a private visual messenger for families, has secured investment from Gareth Williams ahead of their CrowdFunding Campaign. Kindaba helps customers stay connected with the promise of no adverts and a commitment to respect privacy and protect their data. 

The company aims to globally launch their new visual intelligent messenger for families and establish themselves as thought leaders in the FamTech (family technology) space over the next 12 months.

Dow Schofield Watts Angels has completed its second deal, with a £300,000 investment in Miribase Limited, the company behind the Shopblocks e-commerce platform.

Over 25 angel investors took part in the funding round, which will be used to accelerate Shopblocks’ revenues by investment in new sales and marketing resources.

The Shopblocks platform provides a hosted website and online shop solution for SMEs. Shopblocks makes it possible for businesses to launch a bespoke website in an easy and cost-effective way. It fills a gap in the market between inflexible, template-based platforms and custom-built websites which are typically developed by digital agencies at much greater cost.

Maven Capital Partners has exited from its investment in Cursor Controls Limited, a developer and manufacturer of human machine interface (HMI) devices for some of the world's most demanding environments. The sale to DiscoverIE Group plc has realised a return for Maven clients of 2.68x the initial investment in just over three years.

Cursor designs, manufacturers, and supplies a range of leading edge products, including trackballs, touchpads and ruggedised keyboards. The business, which is based in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, generates over 90% of its sales from international markets, exporting to over 30 countries. Its high precision products, benefitting from patented technology, are used by leading brands in the medical, defense and aerospace, marine and industrial sectors.

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.