Experienced private equity and venture capital finance director Marcus Karia has joined fast growing YFM Equity Partners (YFM) as chief financial officer.

Equity Gap, the Edinburgh-based angel investment syndicate, has announced key board member and advisory appointments, as it looks to expand its relationships with next-stage funders and enhance exit capability.

Cardiff-based Smallspark Space Systems will collaborate with the University of Southampton on a new project to design, manufacture and test fire a new satellite thruster. Funded by the national SPRINT (SPace Research and Innovation Network for Technology) programme, the high-performance satellite thruster will enable greater manoeuvrability and exploration freedom to low-mass satellites. This will create the first satellite thruster used in Low Earth Orbit or beyond, and the first ever hybrid rocket-based satellite thruster.

FinTech platform Zeti has been contracted by the Mayor of London's Energy Efficiency Fund (MEEF) to deliver pay-per-mile financing of LEVC's zero emission capable taxis on the roads of London. 

MEEF will finance zero emission capable taxis for fleets, with finance payments made on a per mile basis to boost cash-flow to the fleet operators, enabled by Zeti's patent-pending fintech platform, ZERO.  

Bitcoin could hit fresh all-time highs this week, which will bring upside to other cryptocurrencies, particularly those directly involved in fintech development.

BGF, the UK & Ireland’s most active investor, has added two new high-profile names to its clean growth advisory board.

A vision to feed Britain in a more resilient and sustainable way lies behind multimillion-pound plans to create the world’s largest vertical farm, 

Scottish radio technology company, Sofant Technologies, has received significant financial backing (€7.3M) from the UK Space Agency (UKSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) to support the commercialisation of its low-cost low-power satellite communications platform. 

British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, has announced a new £5m commitment to green economy investor, Green Angel Syndicate, to support early-stage UK businesses operating in the green technology sector.

Innovate UK has awarded a grant of £6.5 million to a seven-member consortium led by sureCore with a remit to jointly develop advanced cryogenic semiconductor IP. This will dramatically accelerate the growth of the Quantum Computing (QC) industry by reducing the constrains associated with interconnects thus enabling efficient qubit/system scaling. The architecture of Quantum Computers combined with specialist algorithms have the power to transform computing efficiency to address problems in disciplines spanning fundamental science, pharmaceuticals, finance, logistics and AI.

Chepstow based health tech firm Forth is set to capitalise on the growth in the female science and technology market as it has secured £1.6m funding to support the launch of its ground-breaking female health product. Leading the team at Forth is CEO and Co-Founder Sarah Bolt. She said: “Today, more and more people are realising that understanding and measuring your body’s biochemistry is key for a long and healthy life. For women in particular, gaining unique insight into how their hormone levels fluctuate throughout their unique cycle can give women the support they have been lacking and help to close the gender health gap”. 

Anna Morrison, a Senior Director of Private Markets at bfinance looks at how ‘Impact’ private equity investing has become a distinct investment subsector with a rapidly increasing universe of dedicated funds and a stream of new managers entering the space.