Cox Powertrain, a leading British manufacturer of high-powered diesel outboard engines for the global marine industry, has raised £9 million from existing shareholders, together with a £3 million loan from HSBC UK Equipment Finance, to allow the company to expand and ramp up production of its CXO300 diesel outboard.

The investment follows a year of significant progress in 2020, where production of the CXO300 began and engines were shipped to Cox’s international network of distributors, including in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The amount raised from existing investors signals their strong confidence in the business and its potential, with a strong order book for 2021 and beyond. 

Steel manufacturer, Hi-Tech Steel Services, has secured a £8.75M funding facility, which includes a £750,000 Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBILS) from Independent Growth Finance (IGF). The Merseyside-based steel processor required additional working capital to support growth and assist the business during the height of the pandemic.  

Ai Build has raised $1m in a funding round led by SuperSeed, a London based VC that specialises in Business Automation and Industry 4.0 investments. Also joining the round is William Tunstall-Pedoe, the British entrepreneur who was one of the inventors behind Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant.

Specialised chemical manufacturer, FIS Chemicals has secured a £1.7 million asset based lending facility from Independent Growth Finance (IGF). The funds raised through invoice discounting and a property loan, were used to support an MBI and to provide working capital to support the growth of the business.

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. 

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.

Private equity house, Chiltern Capital, has completed an investment in a leading waste management incinerator manufacturer with support from a multi-million-pound lending facility from Shawbrook Bank.

Inciner8 Ltd, based in Southport, Merseyside, was acquired by Chiltern in a deal that will enable the business to capitalise on its strong market position as well as grow its product range, service offering and global reach.

Inciner8 designs and manufactures incinerators for a range of uses across the waste management industry, supplying incinerators to corporate, government and non-governmental clients globally. Its products are often used to safely reduce the mass and disposal of hazardous waste that would otherwise end up in landfill. Its incinerators are environmentally friendly thanks to their ability to retain and reburn harmful exhaust gases.

Palatine Private Equity has completed the maiden investment from its fourth buyout fund (Fund IV) with the acquisition of a majority shareholding in NRG Fleet Services, a fast-growing provider of specialist services to the commercial vehicle sector.

Headquartered in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and operating 10 national technical centres, NRG has annual revenues of £90m and employs 280 people. It comprises two divisions, Riverside Truck Rental and Direct Tyre Management.

Oakham-based machinery and vehicle dealer, C&M Retail Group, is embarking on a major expansion programme which will create up to 20 new jobs after agreeing a funding deal to enable the development of a purpose-built industrial and business hub, as well as the launch of a new vehicle sales company.

A Northern Ireland start-up which appeared on TV's Dragons' Den earlier this year has successfully closed a £350,000 funding round with local business angels to bring its innovative new insulated cable clip to market.

Gray's Clip, run by Lisburn-based co-founders Davy and Julie Gray, secured £250,000 of investment from a group of nine private investors through the Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN) and a further £100,000 from Co-Fund NI, part of Invest Northern Ireland's Access to Finance portfolio.

Yotta Capital Partners, the first French private equity team dedicated to Industry 4.0, announces the completion of the first closing of the Yotta Smart Industry fund at €101 million at the end of July, exceeding its initial objective. The fund is now targeting a final amount in excess of €120 million. Yotta Smart Industry will focus on French industrial SMEs to assist them in their transition towards the 4^th Industrial Revolution megatrend, becoming more competitive, more international and more carbon efficient.