A  ‘fintech for good’ start-up which has developed a banking platform for credit unions and community banks has completed a £1.75m funding round.  incuto has secured investment from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF); the government’s Future Fund; Ascension Ventures’ Fair By Design Fund; and the North East Innovation Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Northstar Ventures.

Nozzle.ai, an eCommerce and advertising optimisation platform for Amazon, has raised $2.6 million (£2 million) in funding from Parkwalk Advisors, The Angel CoFund (ACF), UCL Technology Fund (UCLTF), and a syndicate of eCommerce-expert angel investors. The funding will accelerate the company’s growth as it attracts major international brands and agencies to its proprietary AI platform.

Paid has launched to help enterprises transform supplier management with its next-generation procurement platform. Paid raised £2.2m in a seed funding round led by top early-stage tech investors Crane Venture Partners, along with participation from Seedcamp, Techstars and notable angel investors, including Angel Invest Ventures’ Jens Lapinski, GoCardless and Nested Founder Matthew Robinson, Outrun Ventures founder Chris Adelsbach (in a personal capacity), and former Microsoft head of corporate strategy Charles Songhurst. 

Translation platform TAIA, has raised a further €1.2 million in seed funding from venture capital fund Fil Rouge Capital, to expand into the United Kingdom, Europe and the USA with its revolutionary software which bridges the gap between translation agencies and Google Translate.

Judith Hartley, CEO, British Patient Capital said: “The latest report from the British Business Bank, UK Venture Capital Financial Returns, builds on the findings of last year’s report, and for the first time gives analysis of UK fund manager performance by investment stage, size of fund and location of fund manager. It is an important contribution to increasing the understanding of the asset class.

Situated in Southwark, South London, Hinterview has secured a £500,000 growth loan from the Greater London Investment Fund (GLIF) which is managed by The FSE Group.

In the UK, the recruitment industry is currently bigger than ever, estimated to be worth over £35billion to the UK economy. Before the advancement of technology, recruitment followed a more traditional path; face to face interviews at the recruiters’ offices with paper CVs faxed off to hiring employers. The “time to hire” was a long process at circa 45 days. As technology came to the forefront and recruitment evolved, the industry modernised rapidly, however there were due to be even more advancements in the sector.

ilumoni, the fintech startup helping people to borrow better, save on unnecessary interest and time in paying off debts has raised $450,000 pre-seed investment backed by Move Ventures, and angel investors including Simon Moran, former CMO and now Non Executive Director, Premium Credit and Andy Deller, former CEO of Dunbar Bank plc, part of Zurich Insurance Group.

Online product discovery platform, Product Guru, has secured funds of £330,000 to disrupt the traditional retail buying process by re-inventing how products end up on shelves.

British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, has announced a new commitment to Compass Business Finance enabling an increased flow of asset finance products into UK-based smaller businesses in the print, packaging and manufacturing sectors.

Graphite Capital, a leading UK mid-market private equity specialist, has backed the management buyout of Babble from LDC. The transaction values the unified communications, cloud contact centre and cyber security provider at £90 million.

SICCAR has received an investment of £1.3m led by specialist technology investment house, Par Equity.

Scotland-based SICCAR, previously Wallet Services, connect organisations with reliable, protected data. The investment will strengthen its product development and customer teams as the company builds on its success in two industry sectors.

Livingbridge, one of the UK’s leading mid-market private equity investors, has announced its investment in Visualsoft, a market-leading eCommerce platform provider.  Founded in 1998 by CEO Dean Benson and headquartered in Teesside with offices in Newcastle, Manchester and Dubai, Visualsoft provides SMEs with an industry-leading end-to-end eCommerce solution, including initial site development and ongoing support, alongside wrap around digital marketing services.