Pollinate, the global software business that partners with banks to help them deepen and extend relationships with their business customers, has closed a $50 million Series C funding round, led by Insight Partners, the global venture capital and private equity firm. The round also includes participation from all existing investors including NatWest Group, Mastercard, National Australia Bank (NAB), EFM Asset Management, and Motive Partners.

BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor, has completed a £10.5 million minority investment in e2e-assure, an established, fast-growth cybersecurity business based in Oxfordshire. The funding will be used to facilitate international growth and expand its go-to market offering.

Data Duopoly, a Launchpad start-up has received backing from several angel investors which has unlocked further funding, sending the company into the next phase of expansion.

Anthesis, the largest group of dedicated sustainability professionals globally, and one of the UK’s fastest-growing private companies[1], has secured a significant minority investment from Palatine Private Equity, a responsibly-driven, mid-market private equity firm.

IW Capital has completed the leveraged buyout and growth equity investment into Olive Jar Digital, this is to facilitate the partial equity release to the founders and provide further growth capital for the business. This investment is focused on enabling the organic growth of the company through continued expansion into new segments in a growing market. IW Capital is pleased to continue to work with the founders that have built the business to its current position and have a clear strategy for the next stage of development.

Leading globally compliant prospecting solution, Cognism, has raised $12.5 million in funding led by AXA Venture Partners and joined by Swisscom Ventures.  This latest funding was led by existing investors AXA Venture Partners alongside Investiere and VentureFounders. They are joined by new investor Swisscom Ventures.

Lead generation technology company, ROI Media UK, has acquired Copenhagen-headquartered Firstborn Capital 

Edtech marketplace, Preply, has secured an additional USD $35 million of funding, a sum that exceeds the platform’s cumulative fundraising efforts since 2013. The round was co-led by Owl Ventures and Full In Partners, with participation from previous investors Point Nine Capital, Hoxton Ventures, as well as EduCapital, All Iron, Diligent Capital and Evli Growth Partners. Angel investors Niklas Ostberg, co-founder and CEO of Delivery Hero, Arthur Kosten, co-founder of Booking.com, Przemyslaw Gacek, co-founder of Grupa Pracuj, and David Helgason, co-founder of Unity Technologies are also participants.

Haystack, a Newcastle-based tech startup, has raised £1 million in seed funding. The funding enables Haystack to expand their territory reach and with advanced matching technology, help more companies and “techies” to hire smartly and find their ideal roles respectively. Mike Davies, Co-founder and COO said: “This is a really exciting time for Haystack. This funding will allow us to continue the incredible growth we’ve seen since we officially launched in November 2020”.

Transreport, a socially-minded technology company set to transform the travel experiences of those with reduced mobility has secured £2.3m in a funding round led by Blackfinch and Praetura Ventures.

Transreport, which has offices in London and Glasgow, has designed an app that helps rail passengers with disabilities and mobility restrictions by better enabling rail operators and station staff to respond to booked assistance requests.

Research commissioned by Parkwalk shows that while 2020 saw an increase in funding for academic spinouts, this was not the case for deeptech scaleups 

The past year has demonstrated how important deeptech innovation is to solving some of the greatest challenges faced today, from finding vaccine candidates for the Covid-19 pandemic through to solving climate change and transforming healthcare. The UK’s deeptech sector is a critical part of the Government’s post-Brexit ambition for the UK to become a global ‘Science Superpower’. 

Stamp Free Limited, the digital postage stamp company, has launched its Stamp Free Digital Postage Solution™. Initially targeted at postal and logistics sectors, the solution is the first in the world to be offered by a company that is independent of postal services.  Stamp Free has successfully raised £300,000 to ramp up commercial traction and further develop the Stamp Free Digital Postage Solution™. The funding was led by Dr. Ronjon Nag’s Silicon Valley-based R42 Group and high profile Cambridge Angels investors.