Beyond Animal,  a digital platform accelerating the growth of the animal-free economy, has launched a funding service that matches investors with pre-approved investment deals and enables these deals to proceed to completion within a secure, structured environment.

BGF made a £10 million investment in Polar Technology Management Group, an Oxfordshire-based business which manufactures high-performance carbon and metal components for the automotive, medical and aerospace/defence sectors.

BGF’s investment will be used to support Polar Technology Management Group’s planned move into a state-of-the-art 100,000 sq. ft. facility at Horizon Technology Park in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, doubling the size of its production capacity and creating over 110 new jobs in the next two years. The new facility is expected to be fully up and running during 2021.

SomaServe Ltd, a pioneer in nanomedicines for crossing biological barriers has completed a highly successful, oversubscribed Series A funding of £2.1m.

The funding round was jointly led by Origin Capital and Meltwind, and had follow on investment from all existing investors including Abcam and o2H Ventures. The success of this funding round is testament to the progress made with collaborators in evaluating PolyNaut® for penetrating the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the launch by Abcam of PolyNaut®-Dye products.

MunchFit, healthy food provider to luxury gym Equinox and elite studio Barry’s Bootcamp has closed £1.2m through a recent crowdfunding campaign via Crowdcube, after attracting substantial investor interest.

The Gateshead team that has backed thousands of UK entrepreneurs with more than £100 million has launched a free training course to help others start up successful businesses

RGE Services, a fire and electrical compliance services provider primarily working with the public sector, has funded its primary buyout by securing an equity investment from YFM Equity Partners. The deal is the second from the PE house’s £80m Buyout Fund II which closed just 12 months ago and another example of YFM’s strong regional presence, with this investment based in the South East of England.

Praetura Ventures, the venture capital investor, has appointed four industry heavyweights as it evidences its more than money approach.

We are now past the end of the tax year.  So now is a good time to mull over what you will be doing as an angel investor over the next twelve months. Here are a few things the AngelNews team thinks it would be helpful to spend some time on.

George Pennock, partner at Four Seasons Ventures looks at the challenges of choosing the right non-executive director for your SME

Jennifer Wall of Gannons Solicitors considers the main element of due diligence investors should carry out before investing in a UK company.

Muzinich & Co. has reached the third close of the Muzinich Pan-European II Private Debt Fund (the Fund), at €342m.
 
The Fund focuses on providing growth capital to lower middle-market companies to fund acquisitions, expansions and transitions in family and founder-owned businesses. Muzinich & Co.’s locally-based teams work across Europe to deliver on-the-ground deal sourcing and origination. The Fund follows on from the successful €706.5mn closing of the firm’s first Pan-European Private Debt Fund in 2018.

Growth capital investor BGF has invested £14 million in Bloom (Bloom Procurement Services), based in the North East and headquartered in Gateshead. Bloom is the UK’s only public sector procurement marketplace offering an end-to-end managed service procurement solution.  Founded in 2011 by Adam Jacobs, the executive chairman, Bloom provides a dynamic and open access marketplace for the provision of professional services to the UK Public Sector.