Antler has appointed Orson Stadler as a Partner who will be co-heading its London operation. 

BGF has released the first ever report into the attitudes of female leaders at growth economy companies. According to a survey of 152 female executives, board members, senior managers, owners and partners of businesses, 72% of those surveyed are motivated to grow their business this year.

BGF has also been named the leading investor in female-led scale-up businesses last year, according to new research from the Scale Up Institute. In 2020, BGF investments were made into female-led companies in the fields of technology, clean growth, life sciences and retail.

Foresight Group has made a £2.35 million investment into RF Brown Limited, a shipping container hire, container sales and self-storage business.

Niklas Holck, the former Chairman of Nordic Eye Venture Capital, has launched his own boutique VC firm, based in Singapore. Tradeworks.vc is an investment syndicate that aims to build an ecosystem of “Digital Trade Enablers”, with the purpose of driving trade and economic development through innovation in Logistics primarily, crossing into e-Commerce.

Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has completed a significant growth equity investment in AutoRek, a leading provider of financial control, regulatory reporting and data management software. AutoRek’s cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) platform has experienced significant growth in the past three years and investment from SEP will enable the company to accelerate its product development plans and further extend its offering internationally.

Quva, a North-East based fintech firm, has been launched with the aim of digitally transforming the way private equity firms, venture capital funds and angel investment networks currently manage the end-to-end investment process.

Circularity Capital, the specialist private equity firm supporting growth stage European SMEs in the circular economy, has announced the divestment of its portfolio company ZigZag Global Limited to Global Blue Group, a leader in Tax-Free Shopping and Added Value Payment Services. 

BGF, the UK’s most active growth capital investor, has invested in secure lock and hardware supplier, Brisant Secure, which is based in the East Midlands and West Yorkshire. The investment will support Brisant’s ambitious long-term growth plans and enable the company to develop further innovations and opportunities.

Livingbridge has sold disguise, the global leader in Extended Reality (xR1) technology, to The Carlyle Group. Livingbridge are re-investing alongside management. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

BGF has successfully exited its investment in Setfords, a leading tech-enabled legal services provider, following its acquisition by private equity firm, Phoenix Equity Partners.

Setfords, an award-winning top 200 law firm based in Guildford, Surrey, was set up to disrupt the legal services sector with its consultancy network model, which brings together independent lawyers under a unified brand. The company was founded by Chris Setford and Guy Setford in 2006 and has since expanded rapidly, delivering 50 per cent compound annual revenue growth over the past 11 years.

Maven has now provided over £43 million to the region’s businesses as part of its work delivering finance through the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF).

Maven manages two debt funds on behalf of the MEIF across the West, East and South East Midlands. Working with the region’s Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and Growth Hubs, Maven has now completed 100 transactions ranging from £100,000 to £1.5 million.

TiG, one of the UK’s leading Cloud, Data Analytics and Managed Services providers to the financial services sector, announced the acquisition of ThirdSpace, the UK’s leading provider of Microsoft Identity and Cyber Security solutions. The combined proposition delivers a fully comprehensive suite of services based on Microsoft technology, for organisations that demand secure modern working and digital transformation.