DSW Ventures, the venture capital investment business of the Dow Schofield Watts group, has promoted Eleanor Boardman to Investment Manager in a period of significant growth for the regional VC.

The first automated RPA management platform, RPA Supervisor has raised $5m in a Seed round led by MMC Ventures. It also welcomes its newest board member and investor Pascal Baker, formerly founder of Symphony Ventures and pioneer in the Intelligent Automation Market. The investment will boost the startup’s innovation capabilities, feeding into Research & Development and expansion across EMEA and the US. 

Founders Factory and the innovation agency Nesta have joined forces to create new commercial ventures which will tackle some of the UK’s biggest social and environmental challenges. 

Mission Studio is a first-of-its-kind partnership designed to drive forward Nesta’s 10-year mission to halve obesity rates, tackle loneliness, and slash household carbon emissions by 28%. The venture builder will support Nesta’s broader objective to help people live healthier lives and create more sustainable futures.

The national SPRINT (Space Research and Innovation Network for Technology) business support programme has selected eight UK universities to join its new Associate Membership initiative.

The universities joining the SPRINT Associate Membership partner initiative include City, University of London; Durham University; Kingston University; University of Bristol; University of Exeter; University of Glasgow; University of Leeds and University of Strathclyde.

For more information go to Funding for Entrepreneurs

Aceleron, the UK company which is pioneering sustainable battery technology, has raised a further £2.5m as it continues to expand its global sales.

The latest funding has come from existing investors BGF, the MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, which is managed by Mercia and part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, and Mercia’s EIS funds. It brings the total raised by the company so far to £5.4m.

A report published by NatWest sets out the potential opportunity that exists for the UK economy from the transition to net-zero, finding that SMEs could create up to 130,000 new jobs, produce around 30,000 new businesses and result in an estimated £160 billion opportunity for the UK economy. The report finds that there is a significant opportunity for the UK to be a global leader in the transition to net-zero.

Borrower wellbeing app, ilumoni has officially launched and is now available to download on Android and iOS devices.  The app, which has received £1.63 million in investment since inception and gained FCA authorisation earlier this year, has successfully completed its Beta testing and is now available to the wider market.  

Materials Market, founded in November 2020 by Co-Founders Samuel Hunt and Andrew Haehn, has raised £1.5m to grow its digital building materials marketplace.  Materials Market’s creative solution to ease supply chain issues sparked the interest of seed venture capitalist fund, Fuel Ventures, who invested £1.5m in the new tech start-up in September 2021. Investing in the most ambitious technology companies, Fuel Ventures is a leading early/growth stage seed EIS Fund based in London, UK.

Lotanna Ezeike, co-founder of XPO, considers the increase interest amongst investors in opportunities in the creator sector.

Velobici Ltd, a cycling apparel manufacturer, has secured a £500,000 investment to fuel expansion and strengthen its position in global markets. 

The funding has been secured from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) – managed by The FSE Group Debt Finance Fund and backed by the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

General Electric (GE) has announced a five-year, $3.5 million (£2.5m) investment in the UK as part of its global Next Engineers programme, to increase the diversity of young people entering engineering. The UK programme will be based in Staffordshire, where GE operates three sites that design, develop, and service products used throughout the power and renewable energy industries.