The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed new statistics that show the UK economy has grown by 6.6% in the month of July. This news will be welcomed by many businesses owners as consumers regain their spending confidence. 

Luke Davis, CEO and founder of IW Capital, discusses how enterprises can scale and grow despite the pandemic.

Riverside Europe, a global private equity firm focused the middle market, has invested in Germany-based Evint, a workforce management software provider.

ThoughtRiver, the market leader in automated contract review and pre-screening, has announced $10M (£7.5M) in Series A funding. The round is led by Octopus Ventures, a leading European venture capital firm which invests in technology innovation leaders.   The investment comes after ThoughtRiver achieved record growth over the past twelve months. It recently signed contracts with some of the world’s leading companies, including giants such as G4S, Singtel, and DB Schenker. 

Warwick-based energy consultancy Utility Stream has obtained a significant investment from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) Equity Finance Fund, managed by Birmingham venture capital firm Midven.

Utility Stream provides companies with simplified and sustainable energy solutions. The new funds will allow the firm to create a number of roles for business consultants and account managers in Warwickshire and nationally.

The Calculus Creative Content EIS Fund has invested in Home Team, a production company founded by Dominic Buchanan and Bennett McGhee. HOME TEAM will operate in the international film & television space, with a focus on the development and production of high-end, wholly inclusive feature films and television series. 

Led by producers Dominic Buchanan (BAFTA, Royal Television Society and Peabody Award-winning The End of The F***ing World) and Bennett McGhee (Berlin film Festival’s 2020 FRIPRESCI winner, Mogul Mowgli), Home Team’s intention is to identify and develop under-represented creatives and nurture exciting voices- primarily, but not restricted to, filmmakers of colour and women filmmakers of all ethnicities, through interactive as well as traditional film and TV platforms. 

Premium crafting company, Stitch & Story, has received an additional £1 million investment from Pembroke VCT less than a year after its first institutional fund raise in November 2019. The company successfully ‘unlocked the artisan’ in thousands of new customers during lockdown, as people sought creative and meaningful ways to fill their time at home – achieving record sales, including an 800% increase year on year during March, followed by a 1,100% increase in April. 

Ian Connatty, Managing Director of British Patient Capital comments on the opportunities in venture capital and the challenge of attracting UK investors.

Mollie, one of the fastest growing payment service providers in Europe, has announced the closing of €90 million (US$100 million) in its Series B funding round, taking the total amount raised by the company to €115 million. The round was led by TCV, one of the largest growth equity investors focused on technology. Mollie will use the funding to accelerate international expansion and invest in product and engineering, helping it to realise its vision of becoming the most-loved payment service provider (PSP) in Europe.

Tech Nation, the growth platform for tech companies and leaders, announces the 30 scaleups that have been selected to join the new Net Zero programme. 

Bristol-based tech startup Geollect is one of 10 companies chosen to take part in a special mentoring programme being run by the UK’s intelligence, security and cyber agency.  The aim of the scheme is to develop creative products based on data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques that have the potential to help communities and businesses. 

AppyWay, the leading kerbside management and smart parking technology firm, has announced the launch of its £20 million Series B funding round. This will be used to support organic growth of the platform, strategic acquisitions, further technological investment and international scalability.

AppyWay is helping to digitise and integrate what is a highly fragmented, but high potential, market for mobility. In the UK, the government has invested well over £200 million into connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV) research and development since 2014, as well as several billion pounds into infrastructure investment for electric vehicles. 

Small- and mid-cap stocks (SMIDs) are currently more vulnerable to the COVID shock than markets have already priced in. A capital chasm is set to emerge as the unprecedented conditions have left many businesses in need of re-capitalisation that institutions and other pools of capital have insufficient resources to deliver. This means the Bank of England, other central banks and governments should focus significantly more of their ‘firepower’ on the sector to head-off economic calamity.