UX-Republic joins Smile, the leading group recognized for its unique expertise in open source technologies, and also known through its brands Neopixl, the mobile applications specialist, and SensioLabs, creator of the world-famous Symfony framework. UX-Republic will continue to operate under its own brand and will benefit from Smile's capabilities to strengthen its customer offering – particularly on the technological side - and roll out its expertise in France and Europe. 

Welsh-based start-up, Yimba, a multimedia and marketing platform that enhances bank digital wallet integrations, has finalised a bridge round of financing supported by the Development Bank of Wales and a group of private investors. This new funding will support Yimba’s immediate network and bank integrations as well as accelerate the development of next-generation features to its core platform. 

Osprey Flight Solutions, creators of the most powerful resource for supporting aviation risk management in the industry, has closed a £2.2m investment led by venture capital firm 24Haymarket.

Bristol-based entrepreneurs, who have developed techniques to incorporate graphene into Li-ion batteries to improve battery life and charging times while reducing their cost, have raised roughly £1.2 million from investors in a new funding round. 

Anaphite, based in Unit DX in St. Philip's, Bristol, was founded to look at ways to exploit the potential of graphene by scientists Sam Burrow and Alexander Hewitt after they left university. Their impressive work to develop an inexpensive and scalable process to incorporate graphene into battery materials (improving charge time and battery life) on existing cell production lines has excited investors. 

Jenson Funding Partners has completed an investment in Paperound.com, a marketplace for busy business owners to access intern resource on-demand. Paperound has launched at a time where 66% of small business owners are spending their time on activities that are not important, and more than half of founders look to improve their business by delegating more tasks (Source: Pulse Survey, The Alternative Board). To answer this problem, Paperound provides UK Students ('Taskers' on the platform) that are booked for as a little as one hour to work on the company tasks founders don’t have time for, and businesses only pay when the work is done. For founders, Paperound gives them access to extra resource at the times they need it most, without needing to commit to a full-time hire. For students, it is a way to earn money and build their experience.

Seraphim Space Camp today reveals the startups that are participating in Mission 7 of its accelerator, the UK’s first dedicated programme for global startups in the SpaceTech industry. Featuring seven new startups, the latest cohort has attracted founders from all over the world who hope to take their startup to the next level.

Dublin-based Nory has raised a pre-seed round of $2m to help restaurants manage the full-suite of their operations with the tap of a button. The round is led by Calvary Ventures and Playfair Capital.

Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has completed a $25 million growth equity investment in Basis Technologies, a leading provider of DevOps and test automation software for SAP systems.

A recruitment platform which allows haulage operators to reduce costs has raised a further £300,000 to support its expansion plans.

Avail Technologies has secured funding from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, and directors including chairman Keverne Watt. It comes as the company moves to new headquarters in Stockton-on-Tees, where it plans to recruit a further five staff in the year ahead.

The West Midlands has cemented its place as a strategically significant hub for levelling up FinTech in the UK with its appointment to the FinTech National Network – the UK’s first network connecting FinTech hubs and supporting nationwide financial innovation.

Payhawk, the platform for payments and expense management, has raised $20 million. The Series A round is led by the US-based fund QED Investors, which has a strong track record of investing in 18 fintech unicorns, including Klarna and Nubank. Existing investor Earlybird Digital East, who led the $3.6 million seed round in March 2020, is also contributing fresh capital. Yusuf Ozdalga will join the Payhawk board alongside existing investors Mehmed Atici from Earlybird Digital East and Vassil Terziev from Eleven Ventures.

BGF made a £10 million investment in Polar Technology Management Group, an Oxfordshire-based business which manufactures high-performance carbon and metal components for the automotive, medical and aerospace/defence sectors.

BGF’s investment will be used to support Polar Technology Management Group’s planned move into a state-of-the-art 100,000 sq. ft. facility at Horizon Technology Park in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, doubling the size of its production capacity and creating over 110 new jobs in the next two years. The new facility is expected to be fully up and running during 2021.