Odore, the beauty tech start-up working with global brands including Guerlain, Clive Christian and L’Oréal has raised $830k to revolutionise how cosmetics and beauty businesses market their products to consumers. The round was led by SFC Capital and joined by RLC Ventures. 

Payhawk, the platform for payments and expense management, has raised $20 million. The Series A round is led by the US-based fund QED Investors, which has a strong track record of investing in 18 fintech unicorns, including Klarna and Nubank. Existing investor Earlybird Digital East, who led the $3.6 million seed round in March 2020, is also contributing fresh capital. Yusuf Ozdalga will join the Payhawk board alongside existing investors Mehmed Atici from Earlybird Digital East and Vassil Terziev from Eleven Ventures.

Beyond Animal,  a digital platform accelerating the growth of the animal-free economy, has launched a funding service that matches investors with pre-approved investment deals and enables these deals to proceed to completion within a secure, structured environment.

BGF made a £10 million investment in Polar Technology Management Group, an Oxfordshire-based business which manufactures high-performance carbon and metal components for the automotive, medical and aerospace/defence sectors.

BGF’s investment will be used to support Polar Technology Management Group’s planned move into a state-of-the-art 100,000 sq. ft. facility at Horizon Technology Park in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, doubling the size of its production capacity and creating over 110 new jobs in the next two years. The new facility is expected to be fully up and running during 2021.

SomaServe Ltd, a pioneer in nanomedicines for crossing biological barriers has completed a highly successful, oversubscribed Series A funding of £2.1m.

The funding round was jointly led by Origin Capital and Meltwind, and had follow on investment from all existing investors including Abcam and o2H Ventures. The success of this funding round is testament to the progress made with collaborators in evaluating PolyNaut® for penetrating the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the launch by Abcam of PolyNaut®-Dye products.

RGE Services, a fire and electrical compliance services provider primarily working with the public sector, has funded its primary buyout by securing an equity investment from YFM Equity Partners. The deal is the second from the PE house’s £80m Buyout Fund II which closed just 12 months ago and another example of YFM’s strong regional presence, with this investment based in the South East of England.

Growth capital investor BGF has invested £14 million in Bloom (Bloom Procurement Services), based in the North East and headquartered in Gateshead. Bloom is the UK’s only public sector procurement marketplace offering an end-to-end managed service procurement solution.  Founded in 2011 by Adam Jacobs, the executive chairman, Bloom provides a dynamic and open access marketplace for the provision of professional services to the UK Public Sector. 

An HR software platform which helps companies to manage remote workers has raised a further £1,275,000 to fund its rapid expansion.  StaffCircle has secured a further £1m from Blackfinch Investments, with the additional funding coming from the MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, which is managed by Mercia and part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, and private investors.  

Foresight Group, a leading private equity and infrastructure investment manager listed on the London Stock Exchange, has announced an equity investment into Beckett Investment Management Group Limited, a Chartered Financial Planner and leading regional provider of financial, wealth management and employee benefits advice to private clients and companies, primarily in East Anglia. This is the third investment from the Foresight East of England Fund, which targets investments in established, profitable SMEs in the East of England.

Private-Equity backed Access Partnership is set for a period of sustained expansion by acquisition following an undisclosed investment from Shawbrook Bank.

Addition Capital, the London-based family investment office, has completed a control investment into Be-A Education Ltd, supported by funding from Shawbrook Bank.  Hertfordshire-based Be-A Education is the operator of the highly successful and fast-growing New Skills Academy and Staff Skills Training businesses with a mission to make learning accessible to consumers and businesses globally.  To date, the award-winning company has sold nearly 1 million courses to consumers in over 30 countries.

Live streaming sponsorships platform inSTREAMLY has raised a €1.1m seed round led by Supernode Global to expand into new markets.  Founded in 2019 by a team of live streaming and marketing professionals, inSTREAMLY has built a platform that enables all streamers – regardless of size – access to brands and to participate and execute sponsorships.