Richard di Benedetto, the current President of Aetna International, one of the world’s largest health benefits businesses, has been appointed as a director and non-executive chairman of Mercia Fund Managers investment Braintrain2020.

Calculus Capital has invested £2m in software company CloudTrade.

CloudTrade’s technology – which has been patented in Europe, the US and Australia – enables companies to automatically process electronic documents such as invoices and sales orders received by email.

The software extracts information from a human-readable, machine-generated document, such as a PDF, validates it and then converts it into a data file that is fed directly into the company’s accounting system, without human intervention.

Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. and TxCell S.A. have announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement on July 20, 2018 pursuant to which Sangamo will, following the completion of the contemplated acquisition of a majority stake of TxCell, file a simplified cash tender offer for the purchase of all then outstanding ordinary shares of TxCell, at a price of EUR 2.58 per share in cash, or approximately EUR 72 million, on a debt-free and cash-free basis. Subject to satisfaction of closing conditions (including in particular those relating to regulations governing foreign investments in France), Sangamo expects to complete the transaction in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Keywords Studios, the international creative and technical services provider to the global video games industry, has announcesdthat it has acquired the business and assets of Yokozuna Data from Silicon Studios Ltd, a Japanese developer of video games and middleware solutions for game production.

BlackFin Capital Partners has closed its BlackFin Tech 1 Fund with €180m. Top-tier institutional investors have joined the existing pool. Joining Bpifrance, Vaudoise Assurances Group, Groupama, Sogecap (Société Générale Insurance), Natixis Assurances and Swiss Life are further well-established European brands notably the German public bank KfW, Belgian insurer Securex, the groups MACIF, BNP Paribas, large family-offices from the sector as well as numerous regional entities of banking groups Crédit Agricole, Banque Populaire et Caisse d’Epargne.

A fast-growing South Wales fintech company has closed a £1.25million funding round backed by Mercia Fund Managers, Development Bank of Wales and TTI Angels.

Subsea services company, Rovco, is on track to rapidly grow its share of the global subsea market after securing angel investment. This will enable the firm to launch its cutting-edge live 3D visual subsea inspection systems, which could significantly reduce the time taken to complete subsea surveys and cut inspection costs by 80%.

NVM Private Equity has invested £3.1 million of growth capital into Midlands-based Clarilis, a high-growth technology business providing drafting automation solutions to the legal industry.

Leading equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs have announced a pioneering move for the sector with the launch of its new product AutoInvest. Following recent game changing products such as its Secondary Market and Portfolio Update, Seedrs continues to lead the way with expansion into automation.

Shieldpay has increased its global footprint by launching in the US by partnering with the car classified site, AutoClassics.com. 

Cutting Edge Solutions has acquired Majenta PLM to create the largest value-added reseller of Siemens computer-aided design and product lifecycle management software in the UK. 

Booksy, the world’s largest and fastest growing booking app for appointment-based beauty businesses, has announced that it has secured $13.2 million (£9.5 million) in funding.