OCR Labs has raised a €12.5M Series A round led by Turkish investors the Oyak Group, to expand its services and team to the UK and Turkish markets. The Australian founded company is viewed as a world leader in the digital ID verification space, solving major challenges including identity fraud and regulatory compliance, using its proprietary technology.

Beyond HERizons, a new initiative from London & Partners’ Silicon Valley comes to the UK (SVC2UK) programme designed to specifically tackle the funding gap that exists in the investment landscape, launches its inaugural cohort of female founders today. 

The 12-month business support programme will provide 15 female entrepreneurs with the skillset, network and confidence to scale their businesses and secure investment. Female founders joining the programme have been selected following a competitive application process and are actively looking to secure Series A investment within the next year. 

Isomer Capital has reached the first close of “Isomer Capital Opportunities”. The new co-investment fund is backed by British Business Investments, through its Managed Funds Programme, amongst other global institutions.

The goal of the new opportunities fund is to build on the success of ‘Isomer Capital I’, the firm’s fund-of-funds that invests into early-stage venture capital firms across Europe. Isomer Capital Opportunities will enable the firm to continue early growth investing alongside its VC partners into the UK and Europe’s fastest growing technology companies.

Equity investment in the UK’s smaller businesses increased by 9% in 2020 to £8.8bn, the highest amount since the Beauhurst data series began in 2011, 

Immersive Labs, the company empowering organizations to measure and improve cybersecurity skills across technical and non-technical teams, has closed $75m in Series C funding led by new investors Insight Partners alongside Menlo Ventures, Citi Ventures and existing investor Goldman Sachs Asset Management. 

The world's key challenges - smarter cities, more responsible manufacturing and cleaner energy to name a few - can't be solved by software alone. Hardware innovation, and therefore hardware early-stage investment, is critical but, managing the risks puts off many VC investors.  Andrew Bloxam, Director at Foresight Group discusses.

Circulor, the leading provider of supply chain traceability and dynamic CO2 tracking, has closed $14m in Series A funding to accelerate the company’s rapid growth. The Westly Group led the round with participation from Salesforce Ventures, BHP Ventures, Future Positive Capital, 24Haymarket and Sky Ocean Ventures. Existing investors in the company include Boeing HorizonX, Volvo Cars Technology Fund, Jaguar Land Rover’s CVC arm, InMotion Ventures, SYSTEMIQ, Plug and Play and TotalEnergies Ventures. Steve Westly, Founder and Managing Partner of The Westly Group, will join the Circulor board.

Immerse UK and HTC VIVE X have published this first-of-its kind report that highlights the immersive tech investment landscape, the huge potential of the sector and the breadth of talent that exists in the UK.

IgniteNI, Northern Ireland's leading accelerator provider, has recently concluded its annual Accelerator programme for 2021. Over the past 3 months IgniteNI, supported by Invest Northern Ireland, has been working closely with 10 early-stage companies, helping them to scale and grow their businesses. This year's cohort brought together experienced founders from across the globe representing a wide range of sectors including MedTech, asset management, fashion and fitness.

Iceni Diagnostics, a specialist carbohydrate chemistry company based in Norwich, which raised funds in November 2020 from RAB Capital and Angel investors, has agreed an exclusive global licence, to integrate key virus detection intellectual property (IP) developed by the University of Warwick, into its commercial diagnostics programmes.

In a year dominated by Covid-19 and Brexit, the Development Bank of Wales has worked with and supported a broad range of businesses across the Welsh economy to help them survive, recover and grow during extremely difficult times.

In total, the Development Bank invested £197.6 million in the 2020/21 financial year.  Whilst £92 million in loans came from the Covid-19 Wales Business Loan Scheme (CWBLS) to support companies through the pandemic, investments from all our BAU funds also remained stable.  £105.6 million provided a range of support for businesses across all areas of the economy and all stages of growth.

The North East Development Capital Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund (“ERDF”) has invested £750,000 in Newcastle-based CRL Foods Ltd, a specialist food & beverage canning, sterilisation and pasteurisation business. The funding will allow the business to scale, increasing its production capacity and streamline efficiencies in order to service its growing list of international customers. The investment will also enable CRL Foods to expand its team, creating 7 new jobs in Newcastle.