Livingbridge, one of the UK’s leading mid-market private equity investors, has invested in Chill Insurance, one of Ireland’s leading insurance and financial services groups.

Headquartered in Dublin where it employs almost 250 staff, Chill was founded in 2006 by brothers Padraig and Seamus Lynch and has subsequently grown into the largest independent personal lines insurance broker in Ireland with over 200,000 policyholders, representing a 6% market share.

A new survey by Intertrust¹, a global leader in providing tech-enabled fund and corporate solutions, reveals how COVID-19 has impacted the decision making behind carve-outs.

During a recent webinar, addressing how best to create value through carve-outs, a third (33%) of industry professionals said they intended to start looking for acquisition opportunities while 11% planned on initiating a strategic review of potential carve-out opportunities.

Growing fears of a no-deal Brexit will prompt investors to move assets overseas, says deVere.

James Murdoch considers the challenges for investors around the timely collection of EIS and SEIS Certificates.

The Development Bank of Wales has reported a record 457 investments totalling £103.3 million in the financial year ended 31 March 2020.  

The overall investment figure of £103.3 million is a 29% uplift on the previous year which attracted additional private sector leverage of £75.9 million across 457 individual investments. 3,964 jobs have been created or safeguarded.

IQ Capital, the deep-tech venture capital firm based in Cambridge and London, has appointed Simon Hirtzel as General Partner.

eFront, the leading financial software and solutions provider dedicated to Alternative Investments, has published its latest research on LBO and VC performance during crises: “Private Markets in Downturns: 3 Observations”. 

Ikarovec, which is developing novel gene therapies to treat major ophthalmic indications, has been awarded £458,740 by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, to accelerate development of its wet-form age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) product. The grant, made under the UKI2S Innovate Accelerator Programme (1), is being matched by investment made into the company by LifeArc, Parkwalk and UKI2S in its recent seed round. This new funding for Ikarovec’s early stage wAMD product provides additional resource with which to accelerate its development, while the seed funds are being used primarily to advance the company’s lead programme in diabetic macular edema.

London based cleantech company Powervault has secured an additional £2 million of funding to support its continuing innovation in the vital field of energy storage. This includes a £725,000 growth loan from the Greater London Investment Fund, managed by The FSE Group.  We can’t control when the sun shines or the wind blows – so energy storage is absolutely key to our transition from fossil fuels to renewables. Right now, there are times when wind turbines have to be switched off because more energy is being generated than the grid can cope with. Equally, as a nation we are still firing up fossil fuel powered stations during times of excess demand.

The anger and frustration unleashed by the appalling murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis is simple to understand - Black Lives Matter - no exceptions! Whilst some of the issues are straight forward and action can be taken to resolve them quickly; much is complex and difficult to put right overnight as it is deeply ingrained, insidious and systemic.

Quotevine helps brokers give SMEs faster access to vital COVID-19 recovery finance - with new Quickstart initiative.

EQT Ventures has appointed a new deal partner, Rania Belkahia, to its new team in France.  Joining EQT Ventures’ team of former founders and operators, Rania will be leading all investments in France and brings her first-hand experience in consumer, B2C e-commerce and marketplaces, international scaling and operational strategy to the next generation of founders.