proSapient, the Expert Network and Primary Research Platform, has raised new equity capital to support its rapid growth. The round was led by 24Haymarket and existing investors.

BGF is to appoint Stephen Welton, founder CEO of BGF, to the new role of Executive Chairman. 

Independent Growth Finance (IGF), a leading independent commercial finance provider, has entered the new decade in style with seven new clients signed in December and £126 million funds in use. Despite a turbulent year for SMEs across the UK, IGF’s funds in use have continued to grow at pace.

24Haymarket leads £1.1m investment in MWS Technology, a leader in the apprenticeship technology space, has raised new equity capital to support its rapid growth.

Seneca Partners have appointmented Siobhan Pycroft as Investment Executive in their expanding Growth Capital Team as they target new investment of £15 million during 2020. Seneca is seeking to support well-managed businesses with strong leadership that can demonstrate established, proven concepts and are seeking an injection of growth capital and expertise to support their continued development.

Antler, the global startup generator and early-stage venture capital firm, will today reveal the thirteen companies that were founded during its first London program. The companies have raised a total of £1.56m from Antler (£120k per company), and will be revealed on stage at Antler’s London ‘Demo Day’, which will be hosted at The Royal Institution.

QVentures, manager of 29PP Pre-Seed Fund, will be leading the funding round in Ocyan, a cloud operating system for enterprise blockchains and P2P networks. Joining QVentures in the round is Wayra UK, the open innovation arm of Spanish Telecom giant, Telefónica. 

Free Spirit Fund managed by Sanford DeLand Asset Management (SDL), home to the Buffettology Fund, has celebrated its third anniversary with strong performance; ranking 10^th out of the 243 funds in the IA UK All Companies Sector over the same three year period.

Elder, a leading care home alternative, has raised another £8.2m funding round as its technology-enabled live-in care service gains nationwide popularity, bringing the total raised to £16.5m.

Elder is one of the UK's fastest-growing startups and has delivered more than 350,000 days of care in more than 300 towns and cities across the UK since 2016 – with the Outer Hebrides being the only remaining area where care is yet to be delivered.

FeedStock, an AI-driven SaaS business that leverages the latest natural language processing technologies to enable financial services companies to meet both their compliance requirements and commercial goals, has secured a £2.5m investment in a funding round led by Praetura Ventures.

Coniq has secured £6.4 million of growth equity to meet the growing demand for its award-winning CRM and loyalty platform used by the world’s leading shopping malls, outlets and brands.

The round was led by Guinness Asset Management with Maven Capital Partners, and participation from existing investors Venrex Investment Management. High profile angel investors, including Greg Marsh the founder of OneFineStay, also invested as part of this round.

Par Equity had a record-breaking final three months in 2019, securing one exit, battery technology expert Dukosi, and orchestrating 11 investments. Par, which specialises in investing in young, high-growth companies, saw London-based managers join them in putting money into two of its existing portfolio companies, Current Health and Novosound.