This 4th episode of Series 3 of The GrowthInvest Adviser Hour explores the wider drivers behind the growing popularity of “alternatives”, 

Beringea has led a £6.5m investment in Exonar, a leading data discovery and management software firm. Downing Ventures, the early stage investor, has also participated in the round alongside notable existing investors, Amadeus Capital Partners and Winton Ventures.

Enterprises are facing a fundamental change in the way they process and store information. An exponential increase in data volume means organisations must find new ways to understand the risk as well as the opportunities in their data. Driven by new regulation, cyber threats and competition, organisations who use data they hold effectively will survive and thrive.

Beringea has led a £9m investment in AccessPay, a Manchester-based fintech firm. The funding round, backed also by US investors True Ventures and Route 66, is one of the largest ever investments in a financial technology company in the North. Maria Wagner, Investment Director at Beringea, led the deal.

The investment also marks the expansion of Beringea’s footprint in the North of England, as the firm has launched its first dedicated office in the region in central Manchester. This expanded presence will enable Beringea to work more closely with the region’s scaling businesses and provide capital to support the acceleration of the region’s digital economy.

EIS & VCT specialist Calculus Capital has invested £2.5m in fintech company Essentia Analytics (see photo), a leading provider of behavioural data analytics and consulting for professional investors. The investment by Calculus will be used to further develop Essentia’s services as it scales its client base of investment management institutions around the world. 

Foresight Group has made a £1.25 million growth capital investment into Fertility Focus Limited, a leading fertility monitoring technology company that has developed OvuSense, a registered medical device that enables women to predict ovulation.  The investment was led by Foresight on behalf of Foresight VCT plc and Foresight 4 VCT plc as part of a larger £2 million funding round, supported by new and existing investors including private High Net-Worth Individuals.

NVM Private Equity has exited from Warwickshire-based Lanner Group, a leading provider of predictive simulation software for blue chip organisations worldwide. The business has been sold to independent international engineering, consulting and technology consultancy Royal HaskoningDHV and represents NVM’s fifth exit from its portfolio in the past six months.

NVM invested £3 million in the management buy-out of Lanner in March 2010 and has pro-actively supported the business throughout its ownership, helping the management team to grow and develop the company.

Maven Capital Partners has, through its management of two regional funds, provided £1.95 million of capital to Dyer Engineering Ltd, the largest independent engineering business in County Durham. The North East Development Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and the Finance Durham Fund, established by and using funds from Durham County Council have respectively invested £1 million and £750,000, with an additional £200,000 sourced from a local private investor. The investment will support the company’s growth plans to exploit new opportunities in multiple industries and will create up to 100 new jobs in the region.

Ingenious, the alternative investment manager that specialises in the media sector, has announced the launch of Ingenious Vision VCT. The focus of Ingenious Vision VCT is to provide early-stage funding to unquoted companies with high growth potential that develop, produce or exploit television and other forms of audio-visual content.

The Unicorn AIM VCT plc has announced the intention to launch an offer for subscription to raise £15 million, through the issue of new ordinary shares, with an over-allotment facility to raise up to a further £10 million. The prospectus for the Offer is expected to be available later this month.

Puma Private Equity, the private equity division of Puma Investments, has closed an investment of £3.6 million into Dymag Group, the British designer and manufacturer of carbon hybrid automotive wheels. Established in 1974, Dymag is a pioneer in carbon wheel technology and expects a record 2019, with the investment fuelling its global growth plans. Tommy O’Sullivan, Managing Director at Puma Private Equity, commented: “Dymag is positively disrupting the automotive wheel market with its new carbon wheel products.

Albion Capital, the leading independent investment manager, is seeking to raise up to £36 million through top up offers for its six venture capital trusts. 

The fundraising targets £6 million for each of the six Albion VCTs: Albion Venture Capital Trust PLC, Albion Development VCT PLC, Albion Enterprise VCT PLC, Albion Technology & General VCT PLC, Crown Place VCT PLC and Kings Arms Yard VCT PLC. Investments spread across all six portfolios will receive a monthly dividend with a yield of approximately 5.5 per cent*, or 7.8 per cent after tax relief, a potentially attractive income source in the current low interest rate environment. 

Investors who apply before 2 p.m. on 28 February for the first £10 million of shares will be entitled to an "early bird" reduction in the offer costs. Existing Albion investors will receive a 1.0 per cent reduction and new investors will receive a 0.5 per cent reduction.

YFM Equity Partners has exited its investment in GTK Limited for £14.3m, to Volex Plc, generating a return of 3.4x original cost to its funds and a 36% IRR.

FM supported the incumbent management team in the primary buyout of GTK from its founder in October 2013. During the past five years, YFM has seen invested revenues grow over 60% and profits have more than doubled. The growth has been driven by continued investment in the UK sales team; the opening of a new sales office in Germany; a near doubling of manufacturing capacity in the UK; and the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Romania in 2016.