New research* by money.co.uk has crowned Google as the most successful company to be started at university. 

The search engine sits at the top of the university start-up league table with a current market capitalisation of $1.27 trillion (£926 billion)**. This is 12.7 million times greater than the $100,000 initial funding the company received in 1998.

Offshore crew transfer specialists High Speed Transfers, based in Gorseinon Swansea, are closer to their zero emission dream after securing a £2.28 million loan from the Development Bank of Wales.

The company own and operate crew transfer vessels (CTVs), providing transport and services to customers in the construction and operation of offshore platforms. Services include crew transfer, cargo transport, and refuelling of generators. Trading since early 2018, High Speed Transfers specialises in providing CTV services to European wind farms.

Indra, the fast-growing electric vehicle and smart energy technology company developing innovative charging and energy storage solutions for home and commercial use, has secured a £6million investment led by the UK venture capital fund, Clean Growth Fund (CGF), alongside Gulf Oil International (Gulf). Through their investment in Indra, Gulf is making its first strategic move into the e-mobility/electric vehicles sector.

The Technology Venture Investments team at the Development Bank of Wales is expanding, as the Development Bank of Wales seeks to further support Welsh technology businesses.

Helen Kuhlman joins the Development Bank as a senior investment executive. Alex Leigh is promoted to a senior investment executive and David Blake is promoted from an assistant investment executive to an investment executive.

Steel manufacturer, Hi-Tech Steel Services, has secured a £8.75M funding facility, which includes a £750,000 Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBILS) from Independent Growth Finance (IGF). The Merseyside-based steel processor required additional working capital to support growth and assist the business during the height of the pandemic.  

The British Business Bank has appointed Elizabeth O’Neill as General Counsel and Company Secretary of the British Business Bank plc, effective from 15 February 2021.

A Cambridge University programme has produced a fleet of the UK’s ‘next generation’ entrepreneurs and world-class innovators - attracting over £50million (£53,561,000) of funding and investments over the last four years for the alumni’s life-changing projects.

BGF has announced the exit of its investment in Olive Communications, the Buckinghamshire-based managed cloud communications provider.  

BGF, which invested £10 million of growth capital into Olive in 2016, has exited the business as part of the deal.  BGF’s funding helped the business grow to more than £31 million in annual revenue, pivoting its proposition in 2014 from being “mobile only” to become the UK’s leading cloud communications provider. During this period Olive Communications has become one of Vodafone’s most successful strategic partners and in 2020 it was recognised as Vodafone’s Innovation Partner of the Year.

Narcissists have the most crowdfunding success, research reveals.  Entrepreneurs that display the right level of narcissism are more likely to secure crowdfunding investment, according to new research from Trinity Business School.

Ai Build has raised $1m in a funding round led by SuperSeed, a London based VC that specialises in Business Automation and Industry 4.0 investments. Also joining the round is William Tunstall-Pedoe, the British entrepreneur who was one of the inventors behind Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant.

BGF has exitedf its investment in Arcinova, the U.K.-based multiservice contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO). Following a period of growth and expansion, the business has been acquired by Quotient Sciences, the drug development and manufacturing accelerator, backed by the global private equity firm Permira.

Maven Capital Partners has led a £1.75 million investment into marketing technology company, Leaf.fm Ltd. The innovative performance marketing services provider secured £1 million through the North East Development Fund, supported by the European Regional Development, and £750,000 through The Future Fund, a government scheme backed by the British Business Bank. Funding will enable Leaf to invest in its engineering and data science teams, sales & marketing activities and expand its Newcastle operations to deliver on its ambitious expansion plans, whilst continuing to roll out a number of exciting product enhancements.