Deepbridge Capital has closed a £5.4m Series A funding round for vTime,a virtual reality (VR) sociable network that allows users to meet, chat, broadcast, and share with people all around the world.

The Finance Durham fund, established by Durham County Council and managed by Maven Capital Partners, has invested £250,000 in pioneering automotive styling centre, Muss Media Ltd. Funds raised will enable the company to invest in its design, sales and marketing functions, roll out a national car dealership engagement strategy and employ additional wrap technicians to fulfil growing demand. As a result of the investment, the firm will establish its design, sales and marketing functions in County Durham.

Spectral Edge, the image fusion technology specialists, has secured $5.3 million in further funding from existing investors Parkwalk Advisors and IQ Capital. Based in Cambridge with deep academic roots, Spectral Edge combines cutting-edge imaging science with machine learning to improve pictures and videos on mass-market devices. This is done in real time with a pixel-level, embeddable technology that can be implemented in software or in silicon.

The technology behind the process can be used across a range of potential applications that rely on image quality for either function or aesthetics - from mobile to security, and from automotive to on-demand video or live broadcast.

Funds advised and managed by YFM Equity Partners have backed an investment into Eikon Group Limited, a cutting edge, end-to-end, digital post-production services for the motion picture and broadcast industry.

Mercia Technologies PLC last month completed an all cash sale of Science Warehouse Limited, one of the Group's leading direct investments, to Advanced Business Software and Solutions Limited, for a total cash consideration of £16.9million. Mercia will receive proceeds of £10.5million (net of transaction expenses) and will recognise an immediate realised gain of £0.6million, compared with the holding value of £9.9million as at 30 September 2017. The sale represents a return to Mercia of 14.2% on its total investment cost of £9.2million.

The number of new tech companies being set up in Scotland rose by 77 per cent in 2017 according to new analysis by RSM.

In total, there were 440 software development and programming businesses incorporated in Scotland in 2017, a 77 per cent increase on the 249 companies set up in 2016.

The region’s newest investment arm, NorthInvest, reports significant growth of across the North following a 25% increase in membership.

One of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity investors, Equistone, has agreed to acquire a majority stake in MMC’s portfolio company Small World. Equistone is an independent investment firm wholly-owned and managed by it’s executives aiming to invest between €25m and €125m of equity in businesses. The financial terms of the deal are undisclosed and, as Small World is regulated in multiple countries, completion of the transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals.

Newsvoice.com, a news app that aims to change the way we read the news, raises 2 million SEK from private business angels and Almi Invest for further expansion of their service.

Moneysupermarket.com has agreed to acquire BGF-backed Decision Tech following a period of acquisitive expansion and growth. As part of the deal, BGF, which has backed the company since 2012, will exit its minority equity investment.

Decision Tech is a market leading business in price comparison for home communications. In addition to operating broadbandchoices.co.uk, the company provides the technology, data and performance analytics powering telecoms comparison on major brands including Moneysavingexpert.com. These services help its business partners offer best customer experience and monetisation, without having to develop their own technology. 

Midaxo, the Finnish developer of the award-winning cloud M&A platform, has announced a €12.9m funding round comprising of €10.3m for the company and €2.6m for the existing shareholders – led by major growth investor Idinvest Partners, with the participation of the existing investors Tesi and EOC Capital. This B round brings Midaxo’s total funding to €18.6m and follows a period of sustained and rapid growth.

Eggplant (formerly Testplant), the provider of Digital Automation Intelligence solutions, has announced the acquisition of NCC Group’s Web Performance Division.