The renowned University of Cambridge Impulse Programme is offering its entrepreneurial course to help organisations develop an intrapreneurial ethos and accelerate innovative change.

Easol, the leading experience commerce platform, is announcing an investment of $25 million from Tiger Global with participation from existing investors Notion Capital, Foundation Capital, Y Combinator and FMZ Ventures led by Michael Zeisser, the former Chairman of US investments at Alibaba who is also joining the board. According to CrunchBase, this will be the fifth largest Series A fundraise of all time for a UK-based SaaS company*. 

Investment into the UK’s property technology (‘proptech’) sector has reached record levels in 2021 and more than quadrupled since last year, as the growing sector matures.

The UK based FinTech group, SPG that owns and operates Shieldpay and Paycast, has raised a $34 million dollar (£25 million pounds) Series A that includes strategic funding from Mastercard and Marqeta. Other significant Investors in SPG include Elliott Management, CreditEase and Techstars. 

Landscape, the anonymous review platform for founders to rate interactions with venture capitalists, announces the upcoming launch of OpenScout. The new scout platform will enable anybody with access to exciting startups to share these with investors through their profile and earn success fees from successful deals.

The ‘creator economy,’ decentralized finance, supercharged supply chains, ARM-based chips, and the metaverse virtual playground are among ten key trends that will drive digital transformation in 2022, according to a new report released today by GP Bullhound, a leading technology advisory and investment firm. The firm’s 2022 Technology Predictions Report emphasizes how new software, innovative media platforms, and the latest AI technologies will profoundly influence the workplace, how we bank, how we access healthcare, and how we socialize. 

Angel Investment Network (AIN), the world’s largest online angel investment platform, has seen significant annual growth, with annual revenues up 27% year on year. The figures underscore the extent to which global startup investment activity has bounced back impressively from the pandemic. 

lool ventures, an early stage investor backing mission-driven Israeli-founders, has reached the $60 million first close of its third fund (lool III) targeting $100 million, which will bring the firm’s total Assets Under Management to $200 million. This news is accompanied by the recent appointment of Tony Saigh to Partner from his current role of VP Value Creation at the firm.

Beechbrook Capital has achieved a first close on its third UK SME focused fund, raising £120m, including the fund and separately managed account commitments.

This fund has attracted repeat and new institutional investors, including British Business Investments, the Greater London Authority Strategic Reserve and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund.

Philippe Thomas, CEO at Vaultinum discusses why software due diligence is such a valuable tool for private equity investors

NPIF - Maven Equity Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) has invested £500,000 in Advanced Bacterial Sciences Ltd, which creates, manufactures and sells biological solutions for a range of real-world pollution and maintenance problems. The funding will enable ABS to commercialise its portfolio of products, sell directly to end users, as well as invest in continuous product development, patenting future technologies and scientific advances.

WATI.io (WhatsApp Team Inbox), a comprehensive WhatsApp customer engagement tool for small businesses, has raised $8.3Mn in Series A led by Sequoia Capital India with participation from Surge, Base Partners and several prominent angels including Gokul Rajaram, a member of the DoorDash executive team. WATI.io has over 3,000 customers  across 54 countries including India, Indonesia and Brazil.