Bower Collective, the sustainable consumer goods business has raised £2.1 million in seed stage fundraising.  The round led by Oxford Capital and Doehler Ventures will accelerate the growth of the business through packaging innovation and new product development to increase market share. 

A biotech company with a product that helps to heal eye injuries and could revolutionise treatment of other wounds has raised a further £1.8m.

Nottingham-based NuVision Biotherapies  has secured funding from the MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, which is managed by Mercia and part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, Mercia’s EIS funds, Newable Ventures and private investors.

A business that is on course to transform the food allergy diagnostics market has secured £2.9m investment in a funding round led by Praetura Ventures with follow-on equity investment from the Development Bank of Wales.  Reacta Biotech (Reacta), which is based in Deeside, North Wales, produces clinical diagnostics kits for food allergy testing. The business improves the efficiency, accuracy and safety of food allergy testing by producing pharmaceutical grade Oral Food Challenges (OFCs), the gold standard test for diagnosing food allergies.

QVentures has announced their latest fund investment into Wildpoint, a marketplace that allows campers to find and book outdoor stays at campsites, caravans, tipis, and cabins.  Wildpoint, a new outdoor experience platform, enables lovers of the outdoors to search, browse and book outdoor stays effortlessly, saving users hours of planning time. The online marketplace – with its mission to “make the outdoors more accessible to all” – gives people the ability to search for campsite stays, glamping stays and private and unique camping spots whilst filtering these based on site characteristics such as waterfalls, lakes and forests, as well as by nearby activities, such as wild swimming, surfing or mountain biking.

The audio app Anyone has been one of the most talked-about audio apps coming out of Nordics in the last year, making it onto Business Insider’s global list of startups poised to take off in 2021 and dubbed one of Sweden’s hottest startups in Sifted.  The Stockholm-based start-up has now announced a $3.6 million seed investment, with the round led by Cavalry Ventures along with participation from Supernode Global, Antler and a number of high-profile angel investors.

Livingbridge has announced its investment in AJM Healthcare, the leading provider of NHS wheelchair services in England.  AJM provides services for over 100,000 wheelchair users across 13 locations.  It delivers a high quality, clinically led service focused on meeting the diverse needs of users.  AJM draws on the deep experience of its more than 270 staff to ensure leading outcomes and best-in-class service for both commissioners and service users.

Eka Ventures has reached the final close on a £68m ($95m) fund, making it the largest impact-driven early stage venture capital fund focused on the UK. Investors in the fund include British Business Bank, BSC, Isomer, Guys and St Thomas Foundation, Planet First Partners, Draper Esprit, Snowball and others, including 24 entrepreneurs, 12 of whom are founders the Eka partners have previously backed.

John Davies has joined Pitalia Capital to launch a new investment fund in response to increased demand for capital and support from small to mid-sized businesses across the UK.

Scotland-based HV Systems (HVS) has secured a £5 million capital injection from Beehive Equity Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of EG Group (EG). Multiple award-winning HVS will now take its innovative hydrogen vehicle designs through prototyping and demonstration, allowing manufacturing to commence.

Climate X, a London-based purpose-driven startup, has completed its pre-seed raise of £1.1M – ushering in a new era of climate intelligence that will help businesses, governments and individuals around the world build a stronger, climate-resilient future.

IW Capital has made an investment in e-pharmacy company SimplyMeds, marking the first external investment in the highly scalable online platform.

SimplyMeds is an end-to-end digital pharmacy platform that provides a convenient method of ordering same day prescriptions and lifestyle products while empowering patients to have medical autonomy. While most online pharmacies are designed to service only one sector, SimplyMeds caters to both the private and NHS prescriptions market in what is believed to be a market first, having developed the distribution channels and a highly sophisticated platform to effectively serve both sectors. 

The Greater London Investment Fund (GLIF) will seek to commit at least £20 million of its capital to businesses led by female, ethnic minority or disabled entrepreneurs, The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced. The commitment represents 20% of the total £100 million fund, and will help to address the barriers faced by underrepresented entrepreneurs in accessing finance.