Catherine Ramsay from Gannons Solicitors looks at the options around offering shares as an incentive to attract employees and grow your business, even when cash is tight. 

Yesterday the team behind the Funding Index agreed a go live, so you can now see one reason why I have been rather quiet in recent months! (There are a few more, … but that is for another day).

You can check it out at www.funding-index.com. The idea is simple; we the UK - from the Prime Minister to the entrepreneur about to start their first business - should understand just how much capital entrepreneurs need to make their businesses a success.  The Index is an entrepreneur-led data bank of companies that need equity, grant and debt funding.  We have been told there could be as much as £10bn of demand for equity alone each year (and that’s prior to the Pandemic).  The CBILs and BBILs volumes are testament to the level of debt demand – I believe is around £70bn.  Our view is that if we have transparency on where the demand is (by sector, geography, type etc) everyone from HM Government to upstart FinTechs will be able to better set strategy and help entrepreneurs, their businesses and the people who they employ, get the right funding at the right time.

The University of Birmingham has announced a three-year research project with Bentley Motors to deliver a sustainable source of rare earth magnets for electric and hybrid vehicles for one of the most sought after luxury car brands in the world.

The £2.6m RaRE (Rare-earth Recycling for E-machines) project is funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, and involves six partners who will work together to establish the first end-to-end supply chain of recycled rare earth magnets in the UK.

Catherine Ramsay from Gannons Solicitors looks at the options around offering shares as an incentive to attract employees and grow your business, even when cash is tight. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) company Peak has raised a $21 million Series B funding round led by venture capital firm Oxx, with participation from existing investors MMC Ventures and Praetura Ventures, and new investor Arete. This brings Peak’s total funding raised to date to $43 million.

AI adoption in businesses saw a rapid acceleration in 2020 as companies looked for new ways to boost sales and maximize profits. This is especially true for the many firms prioritizing digital transformation in the wake of evolving consumer demands, the continued e-commerce boom and the global pandemic.

Acceleris has invested in Power Roll, a developer of a game-changing, ultra-low-cost and lightweight flexible film for energy generation and storage, as part of a further £3m round, taking total investment in the firm to £5.8m over two funding rounds completed in the last six months. ?

GP Bullhound acted as exclusive financial advisor to Byte, a marketing technology agency focused on fast-growing digital platform brands, on its sale to Dept, an international digital agency for creativity, technology and data, backed by The Carlyle Group.

The value of venture capital raised by UK companies surged to the highest quarterly total during Q4 2020 according to research from Refinitiv Deals Intelligence.

Funding London -  the Mayor’s early-stage investment vehicle - has supported 131 overlooked founders over the past six years. Through its two funds, the London Co-Investment Fund (LCIF) and the Greater London Investment Fund (GLIF), over £16.5M has been invested into 39 female founders, 43 ethnic minority founders and four disabled founders.

Despite the economic turmoil, one sector has seemed immune to COVID concerns and continued to deliver remarkable gains. 

NVM Private Equity investee company QV Systems has announced its latest partnership with the Licence Bureau. This partnership completes QV Systems’ fleet management solution, by including the ability to check drivers licences alongside other compliance checks. 

Ally.io, a hypergrowth technology company specializing in goal-setting and business execution software, announces today a $50M (£36.5M) Series C funding round led by Greenoaks Capital. Tiger Global, who led the company’s Series B round, and Madrona Venture Group also joined the round, as well as previous investors Accel, Addition Ventures, Founders’ Co-Op, and Vulcan Capital.