The number of venture capital ‘megadeals’ in the UK has increased tenfold over the last decade, according to a report by leading UK law firm Shoosmiths in partnership with intuitive data platform, Beauhurst – UK Megadeals: Past, Present and Future.

Gresham House, the specialist alternative asset manager, has agreed to acquire the Venture Capital Trust (VCT) business (£369m AUM) of Mobeus Equity Partners. 

The independent Iberian alternative assets manager GED Capital has added three new technology startups to the portfolio of its Conexo Ventures fund: Vonzu, Pridactect and Feedzai. In this way, GED’s venture capital fund, which complements the multi-asset manager’s private equity and infrastructure strategies, now has nine startups in its portfolio and is 25% deployed.

Independent Growth Finance (IGF), a leading independent commercial finance provider, has appointed Jamie O’Neill as Asset Based Lending director. 

Plend, the UK’s first social lending marketplace, has secured £700,000 of investment from early-stage VC’s Tomahawk, Ascension, and Haatch, as well as backing from NBS Ventures, a part of Nationwide Building Society’s Incubator. The investment will be used to disrupt the £24 billion consumer lending market and bring affordable loans to 13 million people in the UK with unreliable, inaccurate or non-existent credit files who are virtually invisible to traditional financial credit scoring systems and therefore vulnerable to financial hardship and exclusion.  

Lower mid-market private equity firm NorthEdge has backed the primary management buyout of Meet, an international talent provider to the life sciences sector.

Maven Capital Partners, one of the UK’s most active private equity houses, has led a £4.4 million investment in Candle Shack, a rapidly growing eCommerce business supplying candle making components as well as providing contract candle manufacture for high profile, luxury brands. The transaction includes £3 million of funding from Maven’s high net worth investment syndicate, Maven Investor Partners, as well as a £1.4 million debt facility from HSBC UK.

Research conducted by the EIS and SEIS representative organisation, the EIS Association suggests that Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) are hesitant about advising clients to invest in SEIS opportunities due to the perceived risks associated with the product, as well as concerns about the impact on PI Insurance and compliance. Notwithstanding these concerns PI and Compliance specialists spoken to by the EISA both felt that neither should be an issue.

Worcestershire-based Sustainable bag-in-box wine brand, When in Rome, has secured £375,000 from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) West Midlands Equity Fund, managed by Midven (part of the Future Planet Capital Group).  Having already secured listings with Waitrose, Ocado and Amazon, the MEIF funding will allow When in Rome to accelerate its growth by upscaling its marketing activities and expanding distribution. The investment also supports three key hires and two contractor roles. 

The winners for the MSDUK Awards have been announced. 

The number of acquisitions made by private equity-backed businesses in the UK hit record numbers in H1 2021, with 286 transactions completed during the first six months of the year, according to Rickitt Mitchell’s Buy and Build Barometer.

Bloc Ventures, the venture capital company focused on early-stage European deep technology investment, has announced the appointment of Andy Green CBE (pictured) as Senior Independent Director and Sue Prevezer QC as Non-Executive Director as it bolsters its board of directors.