Wave power specialists Mocean Energy have secured major new investment to accelerate the commercialisation of their ground-breaking wave energy technology.

The Edinburgh start-up has raised £612,000 equity seed funding plus £250,000 from Innovate UK to advance the design of their Blue Star wave machine and drive its adoption in subsea oil and gas.

The outperformance of the tech sector during COVID-19 has never been far from the headlines. But some of the fastest-growing technology companies fly under the radar, as they are not quoted on public markets. Private equity investment companies offer a way to access some of these opportunities, which may turn into the FAANG stocks of the future.

Ingenious has invested £787,000 in Igloo Vision, the Shropshire-based immersive software and technology company that can take any digital content and put it into a shared immersive space. The funding will be used to continue the build-out of Igloo’s software suite and accelerate the production of its recently launched Igloo Immersive Media Player.

Direct.me, the social media platform that connects audiences with influencers’ content, has raised a $2.6m seed round, led by Fuel Ventures, to help people organise their social presence and build greater personal connections with their audiences. 

A  ‘fintech for good’ start-up which has developed a banking platform for credit unions and community banks has completed a £1.75m funding round.  incuto has secured investment from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF); the government’s Future Fund; Ascension Ventures’ Fair By Design Fund; and the North East Innovation Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Northstar Ventures.

Maven Capital Partners has realised its VCT investment in Edinburgh-based Symphonic Software (Symphonic) through a sale to PING Identity, a NYSE listed company which delivers Intelligent Identity solutions for enterprise. The exit from Symphonic, Maven’s fourth VCT realisation of 2020, has delivered an impressive 2.9x money multiple return and 90% IRR for investors.

Situated in Southwark, South London, Hinterview has secured a £500,000 growth loan from the Greater London Investment Fund (GLIF) which is managed by The FSE Group.

In the UK, the recruitment industry is currently bigger than ever, estimated to be worth over £35billion to the UK economy. Before the advancement of technology, recruitment followed a more traditional path; face to face interviews at the recruiters’ offices with paper CVs faxed off to hiring employers. The “time to hire” was a long process at circa 45 days. As technology came to the forefront and recruitment evolved, the industry modernised rapidly, however there were due to be even more advancements in the sector.

Online product discovery platform, Product Guru, has secured funds of £330,000 to disrupt the traditional retail buying process by re-inventing how products end up on shelves.

Graphite Capital, a leading UK mid-market private equity specialist, has backed the management buyout of Babble from LDC. The transaction values the unified communications, cloud contact centre and cyber security provider at £90 million.

Pembroke VCT, the venture capital trust focused on building the brands of tomorrow, has made an initial investment of £1 million into Smartify, the app named by New Scientist as the ‘Shazam and Spotify for art’.

Smartify, founded in 2015 by four friends; Anna Lowe, Thanos Kokkiniotis, Nick Mueller and Ron Rijmoet, helps people make meaningful connections with art whilst providing museums with next generation digital technology.

SICCAR has received an investment of £1.3m led by specialist technology investment house, Par Equity.

Scotland-based SICCAR, previously Wallet Services, connect organisations with reliable, protected data. The investment will strengthen its product development and customer teams as the company builds on its success in two industry sectors.

Livingbridge, one of the UK’s leading mid-market private equity investors, has announced its investment in Visualsoft, a market-leading eCommerce platform provider.  Founded in 1998 by CEO Dean Benson and headquartered in Teesside with offices in Newcastle, Manchester and Dubai, Visualsoft provides SMEs with an industry-leading end-to-end eCommerce solution, including initial site development and ongoing support, alongside wrap around digital marketing services.