Cambridge based biotechnology company, Phico Therapeutics, has announced it has received £7 million in funding from a consortium of investors.  BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active growth capital investor, led the round with a £3 million investment, while a further £4 million was received from existing backers.  Founded in 2000 by Dr Heather Fairhead, Phico is developing a biotechnology platform for a new generation of antibiotics to overcome antibacterial resistance. 

The global early-stage venture capital firm Antler has closed their first Nordic fund. Following strong interest, Antler’s Nordic fund was oversubscribed, closing at $36m, including participation from Draper Esprit, Kistefos, the Danish state fund Vækstfonden, and the Norwegian state fund Investinor.

Financial Services Capital, the private equity investor dedicated to the European financial services sector, has appointed Kevin Cunningham, an insurance specialist with more than 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry, as its newest Partner.

Scottish Equity Partners has completed a significant growth equity investment in FundApps, one of the world's most successful Regulatory Technology (RegTech) companies.

EkkoSense Limited, an advanced software and technology provider, has received a seven-figure cash injection from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, East & South East Midlands Debt Finance fund managed by Maven Capital Partners.

BGF and the ScaleUp Institute have launched a major new nationwide initiative, Scaleup Week: The Business Plan taking place 18 – 20 May. The Scaleup Week represents a national moment to address critical challenges as we recover economically from the pandemic, to help business not just survive but thrive and ensure we have a fully funded plan to drive investment nationwide.

CyberHive, a UK cybersecurity company, has announced a £1.8m investment, co-led by 24Haymarket and Mercia Fund Management’s EIS funds.

Turquoise, the UK merchant bank specialising in energy, environment and efficiency, has announced its eighth deal for the Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 (LCIF2). The investment in geo is part of a first close of a round co-led by LCIF2 and Schneider Electric Ventures (SEV), with the participation of Consensus Business Group, West Coast Capital and GWD Enterprises. 

Inflexion has sold its investment in Reed & Mackay, a premium corporate travel management and events business, to TripActions, a US headquartered business travel and spend management platform.

On-demand and Elastic™ software talent startup Distributed has secured £5m in a Series A funding round led by Guinness Asset Management. The company also drew further investment from its Seed investor, Fuel Ventures, and other high-profile industry leaders, Filippo Sarti and Andreas Mihalovits, bringing its total funding to date to over £9m.

Foresight Group and Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) have made an investment into Machine Discovery, an innovative University of Oxford spin-out commercialising new machine learning technology.

The investment  will be used to support the senior management team in taking Machine Discovery through its next stage of growth, assisted by Foresight Williams’ expertise in the sector. During the process, Oxford Technology introduced Bijan Kiani to the business.  Bijan was previously VP Product and Marketing at Synopsys, a NASDAQ listed Electronic Design Automation company focusing on advanced technologies for chip design, validation and application ($3.7bn revenue in 2020) and will take over as CEO.

Toy innovator and distributor Wow! Stuff has secured a £4.5 million facility from Independent Growth Finance (IGF) to help support its ongoing growth aspirations. As a company working with global brands, the Wolverhampton-headquartered business, with offices in LA and Hong Kong, were looking for funding to assist growth in the European market. The additional funding will allow the business to expand its branded range on a commercial-led timeline throughout the pandemic and beyond.