Diginex, the disruptive impact technology company helping to solve the world’s most pressing ESG and sustainability challenges, has closed a $6m Series A round led by Fitch Ventures, the equity investment arm of Fitch Group, bringing the total amount raised to over $8m. The funding round will enable Diginex to continue development of its blockchain-enabled SaaS products as well as deepen its global digital distribution channels.      

Vira Health, a digital health company focused on improving long-term health for women, has raised £1.5M in seed funding from LocalGlobe, MMC Ventures, and angel investors including Megumi Ikeda, Managing Director, Hearst Ventures, Andrea Zitna of Elvie, former Spotify executive Sofia Bendz, founder of GoCardless Matt Robinson, and Simon Lambert, former CTO, MOO.com, and Treatwell. 

Foresight Group has sold Poppy & Jacks Limited, a market leading children’s nursery chain in North West England.

Peppy, a B2B digital health platform, has announced a £6.6m Series A funding round. Peppy provides tailored, expert-led support to individuals before they need to see a doctor, bridging the gap between online searches and hard-to-access clinical care. The investment was led by Felix Capital with previous investors including Outward VC, Seedcamp, and Hambro Perks, also participating. 

4D Biomaterials, a medtech company which has developed a new biomaterial used for 3D printing medical implants, has completed a £1.6m funding round led by DSW Ventures.

Patchwork Health, the healthcare staffing platform founded by doctors, has raised £3.5m to accelerate their mission to solve the NHS burnout crisis. The funding, from Praetura Ventures and BMJ New Ventures, comes as an NHS workforce 'emergency' is declared and waiting lists reach record highs.

Insect-based snack company Small Giants has closed a new investment round of more than £400,000, after raising £130,000 in the first round in March 2020.  The startup, founded by Francesco Majno and Edoardo Imparato, has far exceeded its initial target of £250k, following significant funding from investors.  A sizeable proportion of the investment came from shareholders and partners of iN3 Ventures’ network; an innovation advisory and corporate venture capital company. One of its partners, Mario Rizzola Pasotti, is also now a member of the Small Giants Advisory Board.

Turquoise, the UK merchant bank specialising in energy, environment and efficiency, has announced its tenth deal for the Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 (LCIF2), a £250,000 investment in pH sensor company ANB Sensors (ANB). LCIF2 led the £997,000 equity round which included Hatch Accelerator Fund and Applied Technology Ventures as co-investors.  

CPI Enterprises, the investor engagement and ventures arm of CPI, has made its first investment in Qualus, a cleantech firm working to reduce water and chemical consumption within the leather industry.

CPI is an independent technology innovation centre that partners with ambitious and novel deep tech companies to translate bright ideas and research into new sustainable products and manufacturing processes. This investment will allow Qualus to benefit from innovation expertise and state-of the-art facilities as they develop their second product and continue to expand their international customer base.

Graphite Capital, a leading UK mid-market private equity specialist, has acquired Wonderbly, the world’s leading publishing platform for personalised children’s books. The company is also developing innovative personalised products for third-party clients.

Tulipshare is a brand new activist investment platform that empowers individuals to make a positive change within some of the biggest household-name companies in the world. Launching in the UK in July 2021, the platform will enable people to rethink the way they invest in businesses. Essentially allowing people to vote with their money, Tulipshare endeavours to play a tangible role in promoting ethical change in the boardrooms of global companies. 

Legal technology start-up Robin AI has raised $2.5m seed funding from Episode 1 and a number of leading angel investors including Paul Massara, Al Giles  and Oliver Burgel. They are also one of just 30 companies to be selected to receive a portion of the $2m Google Black Founders Fund, a programme set up to support the chosen companies as they work to change the face of start-up culture that currently sees just 0.5% of start-ups with Black founders receive institutional investment.