EBAN, the trade association representing business angels, seed funds and early stage market players in Europe, 

QVentures has invested in start-up Kitche, a free app to reduce food waste and save money.

With food waste receiving increasing attention by policy-makers in recent months, QVentures is proud to be working closely with a social impact company tackling the problem of food waste in the UK. QVentures Managing Partner, Robert Walsh says: "It's fantastic to see innovative technology companies such as Kitche taking action towards creating a more sustainable food industry. We are proud to join Kitche on this journey."

Instanda, the leading customer and policy management platform for the insurance industry, has completed a $19.5m Series A fundraising round, the company has announced today. Led by Assembly Capital Partners the investment will support the firm’s international expansion in the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America following several years of triple digit growth.

Sure Ventures plc, a London listed venture capital fund that invests in early stage software companies across a range of high-tech verticals, is leading a €1,250,000 investment round in Getvisibility, an AI security company.

The Development Bank of Wales has now worked with over 900 women involved in the ownership of companies in Wales. 

Property technology company Goodlord, which provides software and services to transform how people rent, has been backed by some of the UK’s most respected investors in a  £10m Series B round.

Imperial College London has launched its first Innovation Fund to invest in early-stage, high-growth, knowledge-intensive companies spun out of the world top ten university. It offers alumni and investors the opportunity to support the commercial development of Imperial’s discoveries into tomorrow’s solutions in medicine, engineering, biochemistry, genetics, materials, quantum computing, data science, and beyond. 

Bowmark Capital, the mid-market private equity firm, has purchased a significant minority stake in Focus Group, a leading UK provider of communications and IT solutions.

YFM Equity Partners has appointed Roux Brits as Portfolio Director. Based in the London office, Roux will focus on actively managing YFM’s Growth and Buyout investment portfolio as part of the national portfolio team led by David Bell.

Roux’s appointment follows a strong recent investment period for YFM, with seven new investments from its Growth and Buyout funds during 2019, plus a number of additional new deals expected to complete soon.  YFM added almost £100m to its investment capacity last year, including a £60m first close of Buyout Fund II. With this significant growth funding capacity, further growth in portfolio numbers is expected over the coming years.

Loughborough-based Previsico has signed up to the national SPRINT business support programme to work with the University of Leicester on a major flood forecasting project. The University of Leicester will provide Previsico with flood extent information retrieved from satellite imagery. This will be combined with real-time flood models based on meteorological forecasts to enhance the accuracy and predictive capabilities of Previsico's flood forecasting.

Coutts, the Private Banking arm of NatWest, together with BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor in growing businesses, are working on plans to launch The UK Enterprise Fund to bring additional funding and support to entrepreneurs across the UK.

The partnership will build on Coutts and BGF’s existing platforms, drawing on the significant scale and financial firepower of the two companies.  It will identify and address equity gaps across the whole of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, with specific initiatives and programmes for female-led businesses and aimed at increasing the diversity of management teams.

Analysis of global startup hubs by Outlier Ventures, as part of London Blockchain Week has revealed that London may be one of the most preferred hubs for blockchain start-ups to headquarter themselves.