AME Group , a company that designs products for many leading consumer brands, has raised £750,000 from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).

Byway, the world's first flight-free holiday platform, has announced £1.1 million of funding from an Innovate UK SMART grant as well as Founders Factory and angel investors. Angels include founder/CEO of Viator and Rome2Rio, Rod Cuthbert, slow travel guru Ed Gillespie, and former Chair of Visit Britain, Christopher Rodrigues CBE.

Funding London talked to expert investors and shares their advice for entrepreneurs on how to raise funds in the Post-Pandemic Era.

Some of the most famous companies,  such as WhatsApp, Uber, Slack and AirBnb, were launched right after the 2008 economic crisis. The economic crisis induced by the coronavirus pandemic is challenging and terrifying, but the current environment can be a good time for entrepreneurs to launch the start-up of their dreams.

Invest Europe, the association representing Europe’s private equity, venture capital and infrastructure sectors, as well as their investors, has published ‘The Performance of European Private Equity Benchmark Report 2020’, a transparent study of private equity returns.

OpenBlend, the SaaS platform transforming the way companies and their employees think about performance management has taken additional funding and appointed David Grundy as Chair to support rapidly growing demand for its products and services. OpenBlend performance management software helps companies, and their employees stay engaged and productive as they respond to the new challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic and the new world of work. 

Greenbackers Investment Capital has revealed the identity of 26 climate technology start-ups 

24Haymarket, a private capital firm focused on growth equity and venture capital investments in the UK, and Forward Partners, an early-stage investor focused on applied AI, marketplaces and e-commerce, has made an investment in Clustermarket, the SAAS-enabled marketplace for laboratories and equipment. Existing investors such as industry heavyweights Jonathan Milner and Bruce Barclay also participated in the $3.5m round.

MediSieve Ltd, a biotech company which has developed an innovative blood filtration device, has completed a £1.8m investment, led by 24Haymarket.

Cornerstone Partners has led a seed round into boxing inspired fitness studio and digital content platform, Boxx.

Boxx was founded in 2016 by Anna Samuels, after discovering a personal passion for boxing and a desire to create a world class online workout that was compatible with the busy and ever changing schedules of ordinary people.

E-commerce start-up Haru has secured just under half a million pounds of investment from the COVID-19 Equity Investment Fund (CEIF), Co Fund NI, part of Invest Northern Ireland’s Access to Finance portfolio, and private investors through the Halo & Business Angel Network (HBAN) Ulster Network.

MSDUK, an organisation that champions the inclusion of ethnic minority businesses (EMBs) and founders in corporate supply chains, has partnered with Unilever, WPP, Google and Dow to launch the UK’s first accelerator programme focused on helping 300 EMBs to become supply chain ready.

Deep technology company VividQ, a leading software and IP developer for holography, has announced a seed extension round of £11M. The Cambridge head-quartered business is powering the display revolution with Computer-Generated Holography. Its technology is used in the development of next-generation digital displays and devices, by manufacturers in the US, China and Japan.