Personio, the all-in-one HR platform has completed $125 million of new and preemptive Series D funding in an investment round that values the business at $1.7 billion.

The new funding will accelerate the further international expansion of the software company, supporting its ambition of becoming Europe’s leading HR platform for SMEs. It follows a strong year of growth for the business in 2020,which saw it double revenues despite adverse market conditions.

Skyqraft, an AI-driven powerline inspection solution-provider from Sweden, has raised $2.2 million in seed funding. The latest fundraise was led by Subvenio Invest, and also include participation from Antler, Next Human Ventures and selected angel investors. The company is on a mission to become the leading powerline issue detection system globally enabling its customers to conduct smarter and safer powerline inspections in a more cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable way.

The boardroom gender gap is finally beginning to narrow, but women entrepreneurs still have a chasm to cross to catch up with their male peers. Changing that will not only massively improve equality, but will also hugely improve the economy, says David Newns a serial disruptive entrepreneur and investor.

Perchpeek, the AI-powered relocation agent, has raised £2 million, led by early-growth experts Episode 1.  Founded in 2018 as a UK property marketplace, Perchpeek was originally dubbed ‘Tinder for renting’, but has since developed into a completely unique, global relocation service that is transforming the relocation industry.

The Perchpeek app combines  AI-powered recommendations with relocation experts to curate properties and additional services for the user. As they use the app, recommendations become more tailored until they’ve found the perfect home in the perfect area.

PPC Protect has launched its annual Global PPC Click Fraud Report which examines over 1 billion ad clicks to uncover the sheer global impact fraudulent activity has on businesses of every size - accounting for between £14,000 and £700,000 per year lost to each business as fraud schemes and criminal gangs adapted and ramped up their efforts to defraud businesses of nearly £25billion¹ lost through click fraud in 2020.

Insurtech startup Nayms has closed a £1.5m seed round led by XBTO, alongside other top investors across insurance, capital markets and crypto such as Coinbase Ventures, Maven11, the founders of Synthetix and Insurtech Gateway, who co-founded the project with CEO, Dan Roberts, from day one.  The funding will enable Nayms to continue launching larger pilot programs in preparation for a full launch later in 2021 following graduation from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) sandbox into a full regulatory licence.

Livingbridge, one of the UK’s leading mid-market private equity investors, has agreed the sale of Broadstone, 

Foresight Group has made a £4.5 million investment into iMist Holdings Limited, a manufacturer and installer of water mist fire protection systems for homes and residential buildings. 

British premium low-alcohol spirits startup, CleanCo, has secured £7 million funding as investors and consumers reveal an insatiable thirst for hangover-free drinking. The latest investment takes the total now raised by the business to £9.1 million.

British Business Investments (BBI), a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, has completed a commitment of €40m to the first close of Harbert/Claret European Growth Capital Fund III. 

Foresight Group has made a £5 million investment to support the buy-in management buy-out of Plantexpand Limited, a well-established specialist plant and vehicle maintenance provider servicing the utilities industry. The investment is made by the £100 million Foresight East of England Fund, an evergreen patient pool of capital, cornerstoned by the Cambridgeshire Pension Fund that supports growing SMEs across the East of England.

Shippeo, the European leader in real-time transportation visibility (RTTV), has raise $32 million. This new round is co-led by Battery Ventures, a global, technology focused investment firm and existing investors (NGP Capital, ETF Partners, Partech and Bpifrance Digital Venture). Shippeo will use the investment to strengthen its market-leading position and continue delivering on product innovation.