Owner managed businesses coming out of the third lockdown are still struggling with the impact of Covid-19 and an uncertain economic outlook.

Marlin Equity Partners has signed a definitive agreement to complete a growth investment in iBanFirst SA, a cloud-based, financial services provider delivering solutions across banking borders.

Invest Europe, the association representing Europe’s private equity, venture capital and infrastructure sectors, as well as their investors, has published its ‘Private Equity at Work’ report. 

Penfold, the pensions challenger making saving for the future easier today, has raised a £6million investment round to accelerate growth and expand its team. The round was led by Bridford Investments Limited, and concluded with a recent crowdfunding campaign on CrowdCube, which reached its £3.1m maximum target in less than 24 hours.

Curve, the fast-growing financial super app, has closed the largest ever equity raise on Crowdcube, breaking multiple records during the campaign. The raise closed last Thursday, hitting nearly £10m in funding from 11,795 investors.  In another record, Curve was the fastest ever company on Crowdcube to raise £6m, which it did in just 2 hours 49 minutes after it went live on 25th May. The fundraise has also been Crowdcube’s most popular in 2021 and far outstrips the total of £6m Curve raised during its 2019 crowdfund

Asset Class, a fintech company headquartered in Dublin, with offices in New York and London, announces a strategic investment from Angel Oak Ventures, the technology venture arm of Angel Oak Companies, which is headquartered in Atlanta.

BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active growth capital investor, has reported record-breaking results and surging growth in its 2020 Annual Report and Accounts.

Deepbridge Capital, the UK venture capital investment manager, has announces that it has secured a £15m commitment from British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, to fund early-stage businesses across the UK.

A syndicate of significant Welsh investment angels has completed a £950,000 investment in Swansea-based Marine Power Systems.  Led by lead investor Andrew Diplock, the syndicate of 15 investors has invested £700,000 along with £250,000 match funding from the Development Bank of Wales’ Wales Angel Co-investment Fund. A further £750,000 from private investors has brought the total of the latest equity fundraise to £1.7 million.

Warwickshire based manufacturer of energy storage solutions, Off Grid Energy, has secured a £1.25m investment to scale-up its operations, further developing its product offering whilst creating new jobs in the area.

Off Grid Energy secured the finance from The Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), provided by The FSE Group, Debt Finance Fund and backed by the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

Bright Star Studios has secured over $2 million in funding from multiple investors for its forthcoming free-to-play MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online roleplaying game) Ember Sword. This investment comes ahead of the game’s first Solarwood land sale of 12,000 plots on May 27th. Bright Star Studios intends to use the funding to further Ember Sword’s development, enabling it to deliver on its vision of a high-quality and immersive player-first gaming experience supported by an innovative play-to-earn economy powered by the blockchain.

The Riverside Company, a global private investor focused on the smaller end of the middle market, has signed a definitive agreement to sell Greenphire, the global leader in financial lifecycle management software for clinical trials, to Thoma Bravo, a software focused private equity firm.