Guernsey, a leading global centre in green and sustainable finance, is hosting an array of international speakers for its first Sustainable Finance Week in June.

Sarissa Biomedical , a Coventry-based biotech business has raised £1.2m for a new hand-held device that allows paramedics and emergency doctors to quickly diagnose patients who are having a stroke.  Sarissa Biomedical has secured funds from a consortium of investors including the MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, which is managed by Mercia and part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, Mercia’s EIS funds, and private investors including Wren Capital and the Wood Family.

Blackfinch has invested c.£550k in Poole-based company Spotless Water, founded in 2016. The company offers the UK's first and only network of self-service, pure-water filling stations, available 24/7. It has nearly 40 stations situated across the UK. A key target is to increase this to 450 stations over the next three years as well as expanding into the US.  

New tech roles in banks has increased by a staggering +46% in the last three years – making traditional banks the most prominent recruiter for tech professionals.

Jenson Funding Partners' 2019/20 EIS Fund has invested across six of its existing portfolio companies providing follow on funding to facilitate the next steps of growth for the businesses.  All of the investments were syndicated with external investors providing a cornerstone investment unlocking larger amounts of capital. 

The UK’s leading provider of Start Up Loans for business is toasting it 6,000^th customer.

Birmingham-based language technology firm, Learning Labs Limited, has secured a £500,000 investment to ramp up product development and establish itself in new markets. The investment round includes finance from some existing investors and £250,000 from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) Equity Finance Fund, managed by venture capital firm Midven. 

INSTANDA, the leading customer and policy management platform for the insurance industry, has today announced the appointment of Steven Haasz 

Future VC 2020, Diversity VC’s programme that helps people from backgrounds that are underrepresented in venture capital to break into the industry. The outreach for participants begins today, and the programme will begin on Tuesday 9th June.

Continuum Industries, which provides AI tools for engineering professionals to rapidly design linear infrastructure projects and reduce their costs, has raised £1.5M in seed funding to make its technology widely available to infrastructure planning and design teams around the world.

The round was co-led by Playfair Capital and Credo Ventures with participation from Techstart Ventures, Simon Blakey, Michael Blakey and others.

Ambitious new route map points the way to £1 billion for nature conservation. Nick Lyth, Founder and CEO of Green Angel Syndicate, is a member of the working party that has brought this project to fruition.

A route map towards unlocking £1 billion of new investment for nature conservation in Scotland has been published by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). This work comes at a critical time as society plans a green recovery from the social and economic upheaval caused by Covid-19, and continues to respond to the urgent climate and ecological emergencies.

European VC-backed companies raised $8.8B across 923 deals in the first quarter of 2020 according to the latest KPMG Venture Pulse Report.

Investment in Europe got off to an excellent start in 2020 even with the exit of the UK from the European Union and the sudden uncertainty created by the rapid spread of COVID-19 in February and March. The expanding startup ecosystem across Europe, low interest rates, and a strong base of maturing startups helped drive the continued VC investment.