The Development Bank of Wales was among a number of global backers which supported international fintech startup AGAM in a recently-closed funding round.

*US* The Angel Investor Foundation (AIF) has secured a $300,000 pledge to its Seed the Future capital campaign from the Payne Family, a name synonymous with angel investing. This is the second significant pledge from the Paynes and it brings their campaign contributions to more than half a million dollars.

Canada: East Valley Ventures-backed agtech company Picketa Systems has released its flagship product LENS, which allows agronomists and other agricultural professionals to analyze plant tissue in real-time in the field.

Faradai, a London-based net zero intelligence company, raised $2.4M Pre-Series A to expand its carbon & energy analytics solutions globally and to develop further their Net Zero software offering with AI & IoT-Powered tools.

Enterprise Loyalty Cloud platform, Antavo, has successfully closed its Series A round at €10M led by Euroventures alongside Lead Ventures, iEurope and Innovation Nest and private investors including Zoltan Vardy, empowering the company to develop its best-in-class SaaS platform.

University of Birmingham spinout ChromaTwist Ltd has secured £487k of equity investment to develop its new class of fluorescent dyes for the flow cytometry reagent market.

This second round of equity investment, which brought in funds from Directors, existing Angel investors, angelgroups and the University of Birmingham will allow the company to continue product development with industry partners, and enable rapid development of products for market entry as soon as 2023. 

Boodil, a Manchester founded open banking payments and consumer engagement app that makes it more rewarding, simpler and safer for consumers to pay online, has raised £525,000 in pre seed funding.

More than £4m has been injected into eight innovative Northern businesses thanks to the collaborative efforts of three Angel networks to bring investors and opportunities together.   

With deals spanning a large area of the Northern Powerhouse; Newcastle Angel Hub, NorthInvest and the Women Angels of the North Syndicate have worked with some of the brightest Northern businesses and entrepreneurs to secure equity investment for growth, via a series of joint pitch events. Many of the deals have also leveraged further investment via Innovate UK programmes, including the Regional Angel Investment Accelerator, which is managed across the North by Innovation SuperNetwork via the Newcastle Angel Hub and NorthInvest.  

Untap, a UK start-up that has developed a device capable of detecting and monitoring the spread of infectious diseases in sewage, has just secured a £100k investment from British Design Fund, as part of a £1.1m fundraise from specialist funds and angel investors.

GrandNanny, a new intergenerational childcare service supporting mature job seekers into work and providing vital childcare for working parents, has closed its pre-seed round at £400,000.

A syndicate of nine business angels has joined the Development Bank of Wales and M-SParc in backing entrepreneur Anna Roberts as she prepares to launch Explorage, an online solution for global storage providers and users.

Thoughts on yesterday's budget from a range of perspectives in the private investor ecosystem.