Seneca Partners EIS Portfolio Service, the generalist EIS specialising in the provision of growth capital and strategic support to ambitious SMEs, has successfully exited its investment in Mission Labs – the digital business communications specialist – via the sale to Gamma Communications Plc for more than £40million. The exit has provided Seneca EIS investors with a 4.2x return on their investment.

Sukhendu Pal considers life beyond lockdown.

Diamond Whites Aligners, the rapidly growing at-home teeth aligner business, has raised £550,000 in Pre-Series A funding from Moscar Capital L.P., valuing the company at £6.875 million. The funds will be used to support Diamond Whites Aligner’s growth strategy, having recently announced the opening of its London headquarters and plans to double its employee headcount by H2 2021.

BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor, has completed a multi-million-pound investment in Stark, a leading provider of energy data and analytics services, based in Horley, Surrey.

Established 40 years ago, Stark collects, processes, assures and distributes data representing around 20 per cent of the UK’s electricity supply, every day. It serves over 30,000 organisations including large energy users, intermediaries, and energy suppliers – large and small. The Company employs over 280 people from its four offices across the UK.

QVentures is thrilled to welcome Congenica, one of Britain’s fastest-growing genomics companies, into their portfolio.

QVentures was engaged by Congenica to broaden access to its Series C funding round to Family Offices and sophisticated high net worth individuals. The QVentures investment followed the initial close of the round in November 2020, which raised US$50m/£39m and was led by Legal & General and Tencent, alongside investors such as Parkwalk, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Downing, Xeraya, Puhua Capital, and IDO Investments.

NVM Private Equity has completed a £10 million MBO of Trust Systems, a provider of networking consultancy and managed services focused on helping customers to make the most of their technology.

Trust Systems, which operates from its HQ in Cirencester, has built a loyal customer following in both the retail and transport sectors securing major contracts with many blue chip brands including Aldi, Holland & Barrett, Waterstones and National Express. The company also has a strong reputation in the delivery of enterprise solutions installing networks and performance monitoring with major partners including Ark.

James Murdoch looks at his SyndicateRoom Access EIS Fund in comparison to his Equity Crowdfunding Portfolio and to the market - enabled by the new Co Investor UK Platform.

Legislate Technologies, a legal technology startup building a SaaS platform to enable small businesses and landlords to easily create, sign, and manage contracts, has secured a £1 million seed round. Investors include Parkwalk Advisors - the UK’s most active investor in the university spin-out sector investing from its Opportunities EIS fund - alongside Perivoli Innovations and private investors. The raise will enable the company to accelerate the development of its platform and go to market in the UK. This investment follows a £150,000 pre-seed round, raised from private investors and closed in January 2020.

Rebel Energy, a startup energy supplier, has raised more than £220,000 in crowdfunding in just seven days.

eXmoor, the expert cell and gene therapy (CGT) services company, has raised an initial investment of £12m ($17m) from specialist healthcare investment firm MVM Partners to enable eXmoor’s ambitious expansion plans. This will create a new dedicated 50,000 sq ft CGT process development and clinical manufacturing facility in Bristol (UK). eXmoor has expanded rapidly over the last 5 years, developing a portfolio of clients across the UK and internationally, completing over 400 projects across 15 countries to date.

Livingbridge, a leading mid-market private equity investor with offices in the UK, Australia and US, has agreed the sale of their stake in TSA Management (TSA), an independent provider of client-side project management and advisory services across Australia and New Zealand, to Quadrant Private Equity. The investment was made from Livingbridge 6. 

Specialist lender Shawbrook has expanded its reach into the UK SME market by working with Caple.  Caple’s unique lending-as-a-service proposition provides an efficient means to reach and extend credit facilities to more British businesses.