UK-based healthtech firm Kiteline, formerly known as Liminal Health, has secured £370,000 in funding to meet the demand for support for those living with chronic conditions, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and, most recently, long COVID.

Palatine Private Equity has acquired a majority stake in Routes Healthcare, one of the North’s leading providers of specialist person-centred health and homecare services. Headquartered in the North-West, the business operates from 14 service centres, employing 120 operational and management staff, along with 1,000 carers.

F C Laser Limited has received a £1.5 million loan from Maven Capital Partners through the Midlands Engine Investment Fund and backed by the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

The business, which specialises in engineering and metal fabrication, is set to use the finance to purchase new technology and enable the automation and expansion of its two sites near Ilkeston in Derbyshire.

Puma VCT 13 – the thirteenth Venture Capital Trust (VCT) launched by fund manager Puma Investments – has completed an attractive buyout of its stake in a fast-growing direct cremations business.  

Visit our Funding for Entrepreneurs website for more information aobut this opportunity.

Visit our Funding for Entrepreneurs website for more information aobut this opportunity.

Visit our Funding for Entrepreneurs website for more information aobut this opportunity.

Gannons Employment Law expert Alex Kennedy delves into the world of the gig economy and highlights some of the big issues that employers often face. 

Jenson Funding Partners has appointed Martin Punt as Portfolio Development Manager. 

Nick Berry from BB Strategy reflects on the acceleration and acceptance of remote working as a legacy of Covid but considers the possibility of new Government legislation on hybrid working with caution in the hope it will help and not hinder start-ups and early stage businesses.

It is almost 20 years since the new framework for angel investment was enshrined in the Companies Act.  Combined with the FCA’s rules on Financial Promotions, the industry has had a working solution to putting investors in touch with entrepreneurs.  Within this framework equity crowdfunding has emerged as a meaningful force in providing capital to companies that want it. 

However, various recent stories I have come across have caused me to pause. The recent news that the Financial Ombudsman has ordered CrowdCube to repay an investor his entire original investment (less EIS tax relief already claimed) was the first warning bell.  Then I heard about an entrepreneur pestering an elderly person to invest by making repeated phone calls.  The elderly person could not be considered High Net Worth, let alone Sophisticated.  Most recently I have heard about a wealthy elderly person having been, in the view of their family, “groomed” to make several £10k EIS investments across a portfolio of companies.  In that case the elderly person parted with their cash, got their first income tax claim in and then the companies and the promoter disappeared.

George Pennock, partner at Four Seasons Ventures, suggests that how an SME business responded to the Covid downturn, might provide you with the clues to your next investment.