UK-leading meal kit company, Gousto, has raised another £18m in equity funding, bringing the total raised since launch to £75m. Attracting new investment from global health influencer, Joe Wicks, along with all existing shareholders: MMC Ventures, Unilever Ventures; Hargreave Hale; BGF Ventures and Angel CoFund.

MMC-backed Growth Intelligence has raised £1.7m funding, led by 24Haymarket, to help marketers and sales leaders drive faster growth with AI.

Founded in 2013, Growth Intelligence helps high profile brands, including American Express, FedEx, Western Union, iZettle and Vitality Health, target their direct marketing activity to businesses that are most likely to buy. 

ThinCats, the fintech lender for mid-sized SMEs, today welcomes a new £20 million funding commitment from British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank.

British Business Investments is making the new commitment under its Investment Programme, which supports the development of more diverse debt finance markets for small and medium sized businesses. The commitment will provide ThinCats with additional capital to make term loans which will support the growth of businesses across the UK.

Catering management software company Spoonfed is planning major expansion in the US, following £575,000 of development funding from Equity Gap.  

Aimed specifically at contract catering firms and restaurants supplying catering to businesses, universities, hospitals and many other institutions, Spoonfed’s SaaS (Software as a Service) platform creates real efficiencies for caterers and provides a straightforward ordering system for their customers. 

Idinvest Partners, a leading investor in SMEs across Europe, has today announced the final closing of its second capital growth fund (Idinvest Growth Fund II) at €340m, surpassing its initial target of €300m. Idinvest Growth Fund II brings together a panel of renowned investors, of whom more than 75% are based outside France.

ChargedUp, the UK’s first mobile charging network, is applying the bike-sharing model to mobile device charging, after closing a £1.2 million seed investment led by Sir John Hegarty’s fund The Garage and ex-Innocent Smoothie founders fund JamJar.

Addressing consumer frustrations of being caught out with a dying phone battery and nowhere to charge it, ChargedUp has built the UK’s first mobile phone charging network.  For 50p, users can rent a power bank to charge devices while on the move and return it at a different location.

Idinvest Partners, a leading investor in SMEs across Europe, today announces the appointment of Bao Dinh as Investment Director in the Venture Capital team. In this position, Bao will be involved in sourcing, analysing and executing investments for the Venture Capital team, both in France and in Europe.

Vala Capital, the UK venture capital firm, has appointed Jane Holland, ex-Financial Director at investment company The Ingenious Group, as the firm’s new COO.

BGF portfolio company MorphCostumes, the manufacturer and online fancy dress retailer behind the legendary Morphsuit, has hit the acquisition trail, taking the first step in a plan that will continue their strong growth from a base of over £12m in 2018 (up from £9m in 2017).

The Edinburgh-headquartered company has bought Fun Shack, which designs, makes and sells a range of costumes through Amazon and other online retailers, as well as through a network of over 200 shops.

Fuel Ventures  is offering entrepreneurs with their sights on Dragons’ Den the opportunity to pitch for investment ‘without the theatrics’.

Silverfleet Capital has strengthened its dedicated lower mid-market investment team with the appointment of Ricardo Sommer. 

Wine Vault, the company behind WiV, a blockchain-based trading platform for fine wines, has made a significant step towards long-term viability by attracting investment from Singapore-based Holland Park Capital. As a result of the move, Holland Park’s founding partner, Frank Holle, has joined WineVault’s board of directors and WineVault has opened an office in Singapore, extending its reach into Asia.