By Tom Hopkins, Business Development Director at Parkwalk

The latest international university league table, compiled by data and research group QS and published in June, saw Oxford rising from fifth to fourth overall. This move up the global ranking coincides with increased interest in the investment opportunities presented by its spin-out companies. 

In this piece, Tom Hopkins of Parkwalk looks at how Oxford is producing world beating companies that are of strategic importance to the UK, and how investors can access the investment opportunities spinning out of one of the best universities in the world.

The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm, has completed an investment in Compana, a German provider of recruitment software solutions for the temporary staffing sector and other verticals with complex recruiting requirements. The company will join forces with Riverside’s existing portfolio company GermanPersonnel, bringing together two e-recruiting businesses with a complementary skillset to drive innovation and growth.

Main Capital has made an investment of nearly 50 million Euro in GBTEC, a leading player in Business Process Management. With a strategic stake of 51 percent, Main Capital pushes the continuous growth and progressive internationalization of the software specialist from Bochum, Germany.

LGB Corporate Finance, which provides M&A advisory and capital raising services to companies, entrepreneurs and financial sponsors, has raised £7m for RHEON Labs in an over-subscribed Series A equity capital raise. The funding will enable the accelerated commercialisation of RHEON Labs’ patented technology in Europe and North America, where it is experiencing strong growth as its technology becomes recognised as the global standard for impact resistance and energy control. 

Astarte Capital Partners LLP, an alternatives co-investment platform, has announced the appointments of Richard Templer as Finance Director and Bruno Fumach as Investment Director. The two new hires join the real asset manager’s team in London, bringing with them 24 years of combined experience.

Simulation software developers Simul Software Ltd, has received a £150k investment from NPIF - Maven Equity Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.  The Fund is delivered by MSIF working with Maven in the Liverpool City Region.  Founded in October 2007, Simul is a simulation software company that specializes in real-time rendering. TrueSKY, one of the company’s best-selling products, offers real-time rendered weather & sky for 

Beauhurst analyses the top tech VC deals so far in 2019.

Stuffstr, the game-changing solution to consumer waste, has raised a total of $2.9 million in its seed funding round, led by Mustard Seed, with co-investors adidas Ventures and London Co-investment Fund.

adidas’ investment comes on the back of including Stuffstr in its sports accelerator program, Platform A, which launched in January at Station F in Paris.  It also aligns with adidas’ FUTURECRAFT.LOOP vision for sustainability, which aims to end the concept of “waste” entirely.

Blackfinch Ventures has invested £700,000 in innovative tech start-up Warwick Analytics. Founded in 2011, this London-based firm is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based data spin-out from the University of Warwick. Warwick Analytics delivers powerful text analytics for contact centres based on proprietary machine learning. 

As part of its contribution to London’s climate action week, Guernsey Finance has published findings suggesting the political backdrop is encouraging private equity managers to consider more investment in green and sustainable finance – but they also want to see more transparency in those funds.

Research carried out by Guernsey Finance has revealed rising interest in green investment from managers, but also flagged that they had underestimated the funding requirements and commercial opportunity for limiting global warming.

Fintech startup Joko has carried out its first fundraising with top-tier investors — Partech, Axeleo Capital, Lafayette Plug and Play, and several angel investors from the sector — to develop its simple and universal loyalty program integrated into credit or debit cards.

Traditional and single-brand loyalty programs are no longer appropriate for the customised buying experience that millennials want. With most brands, it is necessary to have the loyalty card with you and to scan it when you pay. Already existing programs are not or only slightly customised, and the consumer accumulating points on each of his programs has little visibility on the benefits he gets. As a result of this disappointing experience, millennials are increasingly abandoning these historical programs.

GeckoLabs, a company whose software platform helps universities to engage and recruit students, has secured £1.8m investment from Mercia Fund Managers, the Scottish Investment Bank’s Co-Investment Fund and existing angel investors.