Equality Check, the crowd-sourced employee review platform, has completed a €1.25m seed investment to fund product development and international expansion.  The Norwegian venture capital fund Alliance Venture lead the round, together with several angel investors and the global early-stage VC Antler, which chose to invest in the Oslo-based start-up for a third time.

Green Angel Syndicate has welcomed Qualis Flow to its portfolio of companies that are fighting Climate Change.  The UK-based company Qualis Flow closed their latest investment of $2.4M in July 2021, bringing their total raised to $3.5M. The female-founded technology company provides construction teams with the data they need to be more sustainable. 

A company that  converts old videos and tapes into digital format has secured a £250,000 investment from NPIF – Mercia Debt Finance, which is managed by Mercia and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).  The funding will enable Digital Converters to continue its rapid growth and launch a new cloud-based platform where families can store their memories securely.  Digital Converters can convert almost all types of outdated media including videotapes, photos and cine film to digital formats such as memory sticks, DVD and cloud.

Gresham House Ventures - a growth equity investor specialising in software and digitally driven businesses in the consumer, healthcare and service sectors - has made a £3.3m investment in Patchworks, a software company helping e-commerce businesses automate and manage data flows across backend systems.

Oxto Energy has secured a £300,000 loan from the Enterprise M3 Short Term Loan Scheme to cover up-front costs for an overseas contract.  The finance will enable the company, which is headquartered in Guildford, to cover the advance payments for materials and sub-contractors that are required to fulfil its latest project to install ten flywheel batteries in Kenya.

Livingbridge, one of the UK’s leading mid-market private equity investors, has announced  investment into North SP Group (North) and follow on acquisition of Data Techniques. North is a highly technical integrated technology specialist delivering end-to-end networking and IoT application design, implementation, support, and managed services throughout the UK. North prides itself on driving innovation and leading the industry in adoption of emerging technologies. Led by CEO, Glen Williams, North has over 270 staff, of which around 160 provide technical services.

Venari Security, the defender of encrypted networks, has raised a Series A funding of £4.2m with a post money valuation of £14.2m. With some of the best known and most influential figures in the cybersecurity industry onboard including Paddy McGuinness, the UK’s former Deputy National Security Adviser for Intelligence, Security and Resilience; Lane Bess, former President and Chief Executive Officer of Palo Alto Networks; and Cris Conde, former Chief Executive Officer of Sungard, the company is primed for success by fundamentally transforming organisations’ ability to accurately and quickly spot threats concealed in encrypted traffic.

Diginex, the disruptive impact technology company helping to solve the world’s most pressing ESG and sustainability challenges, has closed a $6m Series A round led by Fitch Ventures, the equity investment arm of Fitch Group, bringing the total amount raised to over $8m. The funding round will enable Diginex to continue development of its blockchain-enabled SaaS products as well as deepen its global digital distribution channels.      

Turquoise, the UK merchant bank specialising in energy, environment and efficiency, has announced its tenth deal for the Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 (LCIF2), a £250,000 investment in pH sensor company ANB Sensors (ANB). LCIF2 led the £997,000 equity round which included Hatch Accelerator Fund and Applied Technology Ventures as co-investors.  

CPI Enterprises, the investor engagement and ventures arm of CPI, has made its first investment in Qualus, a cleantech firm working to reduce water and chemical consumption within the leather industry.

CPI is an independent technology innovation centre that partners with ambitious and novel deep tech companies to translate bright ideas and research into new sustainable products and manufacturing processes. This investment will allow Qualus to benefit from innovation expertise and state-of the-art facilities as they develop their second product and continue to expand their international customer base.

Elvie, the revolutionary global health and lifestyle brand developing iconic products for women, has completed a £58m Series C funding. The funding round was led by BGF, with further investment from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock Private Equity Partners and a consortium including Hiro Capital and Westerly Winds, plus existing investors Octopus Ventures and IPGL.

Founded in 2013 by CEO Tania Boler, Elvie brings together a team of world-class engineers, designers and business minds to develop extraordinary products that improve women’s lives - revolutionising categories which had been overlooked for many years, including breast pumps and pelvic floor health.

BGF's North West team has invested £2.1 million investment in Yorkshire-based digital mapping company, Gaist.  The deal follows BGF’s initial investment in 2018, taking the total invested to £4.8 million.