A student start-up developing technology that will slash food waste in the education sector has won £10,000 to develop their idea.  UK schools, colleges and universities throw away 150m tonnes of food each year, at a cost of around £250m.  But the University of Bristol students behind KnoWaste believe their digital food management system will cut that waste by 50%, reducing institutions’ costs by 6%.

Parcel2Go, the UK’s largest parcel delivery marketplace and e-commerce shipping platform, has announced the introduction of EQT Private Equity as a new cornerstone investor. EQT acquired its stake from Mayfair Equity Partners, management and certain selling shareholders.

Tech Nation has launched the Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit; a comprehensive guide to address diversity challenges in tech companies and the UK tech sector, in order to help build a strong, diverse and inclusive tech sector.

Gresham House Ventures – a growth equity investor specialising in software and digitally driven businesses in the consumer, healthcare and services sectors – has invested €5m into Scurri, a cloud-based software provider connecting and optimising e-commerce ordering, shipping, and delivery.  The investment is part of a €9m fundraising round that will support the creation of more than 100 jobs over the next two years, grow Scurri’s operations in the UK, and allow them to invest in marketing, sales and product development.

Maven Capital Partners, one of the UK’s most active investors in growth businesses, has invested £2 million in London-based Guru Systems. Guru is a trusted supplier of B2B IoT hardware, software, and analytics solutions to energy companies, house builders, developers and housing associations looking to reduce their carbon footprint and operating costs, meet their regulatory obligations, and deliver the most efficient and cost-effective service to their own customers.

YFM Equity Partners-advised funds have sold their shareholding in Deep Secure Limited to Forcepoint Federal LLC, a global cyber security solutions business specialising in serving government and critical infrastructure clients for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is subject to regulatory review and customary closing conditions and is expected to close in or before August 2021.

GP Bullhound has announced a new investment into Lingokids, a leading educational platform for children, as part of a Series C funding round of USD40m led by an undisclosed investor, with participation from existing investors HV Capital, and Ravensburger among others.

OCR Labs has raised a €12.5M Series A round led by Turkish investors the Oyak Group, to expand its services and team to the UK and Turkish markets. The Australian founded company is viewed as a world leader in the digital ID verification space, solving major challenges including identity fraud and regulatory compliance, using its proprietary technology.

Immersive Labs, the company empowering organizations to measure and improve cybersecurity skills across technical and non-technical teams, has closed $75m in Series C funding led by new investors Insight Partners alongside Menlo Ventures, Citi Ventures and existing investor Goldman Sachs Asset Management. 

The world's key challenges - smarter cities, more responsible manufacturing and cleaner energy to name a few - can't be solved by software alone. Hardware innovation, and therefore hardware early-stage investment, is critical but, managing the risks puts off many VC investors.  Andrew Bloxam, Director at Foresight Group discusses.

Circulor, the leading provider of supply chain traceability and dynamic CO2 tracking, has closed $14m in Series A funding to accelerate the company’s rapid growth. The Westly Group led the round with participation from Salesforce Ventures, BHP Ventures, Future Positive Capital, 24Haymarket and Sky Ocean Ventures. Existing investors in the company include Boeing HorizonX, Volvo Cars Technology Fund, Jaguar Land Rover’s CVC arm, InMotion Ventures, SYSTEMIQ, Plug and Play and TotalEnergies Ventures. Steve Westly, Founder and Managing Partner of The Westly Group, will join the Circulor board.

Immerse UK and HTC VIVE X have published this first-of-its kind report that highlights the immersive tech investment landscape, the huge potential of the sector and the breadth of talent that exists in the UK.