Pixie, a UK-based startup creating a simpler approach to practice management and workflow automation for small accounting and bookkeeping firms, has raised £2.25 million in a seed funding round led by Triple Point Ventures, with the participation of Seedcamp, MMC Ventures, and serial entrepreneurs and angel investors including Duane Jackson (Kashflow, Staffology), Will Neale and Chris Adelsbach.

Bowmark Capital, the mid-market private equity firm, has completed an investment in Kubrick Group, a leading provider of next-generation technology consulting.

Clue, a SaaS platform for managing investigations has raised growth investment of £5 million from Frog Capital, a leading investor in European scale-up software. Demand for Clue has more than doubled over the last two years, driven by co-owners Clare Elford, CEO, and Thomas Drohan, CCO. From its roots in policing, the platform is now used across government, private and non-profit sectors to investigate cyber-crime, fraud, child protection, corruption, environmental crime, cheating in sports and much more.

High growth IT group, Kick ICT, has secured an £8.7 million investment from BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor, to support the Scottish firm’s ambitious growth plans, including further extending its reach and expertise across the UK. 

Bristol-based technology start-up, Matter, has just secured a £150,000 investment from British Design Fund, as it looks to scale-up its innovative solutions for the capture, harvest and recycling of microplastics.

The company was founded in 2017 by Adam Root, a former Dyson engineer and keen scuba diver. After discovering the size of the microplastics problem, Adam set about using his skills and experience to engineer a solution.

NVM Private Equity has invested £14.8 million into The Salocin Group to fund the acquisition of customer data specialist business, Edit, from its previous owners, Kin + Carta PLC.

This is the first transaction completed by The Salocin Group in support of their strategy to build a data powered marketing services group, focused on marketing technology, CRM, analytics, content development, and media optimisation.

Fast-growing IT services company Acora has made a third bolt-on acquisition since the investment by Palatine in 2020, and is planning to ramp up further deals in 2022. 

A radical overhaul of business education is coming as some of the world’s most influential investors and business leaders from the world of tech, entrepreneurship and education, invest £1.5million ($2million) in Framework, the world’s first on-demand business school.

Tech startups are the engine of economic growth worldwide, generating nearly $3 trillion in value. These companies are giving rise to a new generation of modern professionals who want to continuously learn and grow but are disenchanted with outdated professional development schemes and traditional business school education. Framework is changing the game by bringing them a mobile-first social learning solution, designed uniquely for them. 

Oxford University, through Oxford Universtiy Innovation has created 31 new companies over the past year, setting a new record for company creation at the University. In addition, Oxford companies have raised over £1.1bn during this period, a 29% increase from 2020's previous record.

ARIE Capital has launched its new ARIE Tech EIS Fund. The ARIE Capital Group is a significant tech investor, with £500 million of assets under management.

The new EIS fund is technoology based but has some notable differences from other EIS tech funds in the market.

Foresight Group, a listed private equity and infrastructure investment manager, has made a £749,000 growth capital investment into TMAC, using equity finance from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) as part of a c.£1.5 million funding  round.

Founded in 2018 by Jimmy Hosang and Sean Northam, TMAC is a rapidly growing contact centre software solutions company. Based in Manchester and with significant operations across the Midlands, TMAC’s proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning software drives efficiency, reduces costs and improves results for large contact centres primarily in the insurance, retail and banking sectors. 

Clutch Space Systems (CSS) has signed up to the SPRINT business support programme to design, develop and test an experimental prototype of an innovative digitally-controlled antenna system. SPRINT will provide CSS with funded access to expertise from the University of Surrey 5G and 6G Innovation Centres for a major project that will enable smarter and more efficient communications for low earth orbit (LEO) satellites.