The exit plan needs to be part of the decision whether to invest. That’s the advice for business angels looking to invest in start-up and early stage businesses.  New research identifies that the average return of a pro-active exit is more than twice as high as those achieved by exits that occur opportunistically.

In one of the first academic studies to ask ‘how do exits happen?’ researchers from University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School, University of East Anglia and University of Edinburgh Management School, highlight best practice that can be adopted by the business angel community.

Capgemini and ISAI, through their joint investment fund ISAI Cap Venture, have made their first minority investment in Toucan Toco, a data storytelling solution; this forms part of Toucan Toco’s first-ever round of funding of €12 million, led by Balderton Capital.

Montis Biosciences announced its launch with €8.4 million in seed financing from an international investor syndicate.

BGF has successfully exited its investment in fast-growth web hosting company, Miss Group, as financial backing has been secured from private equity investor Perwyn.

Miss Group, which offers services including web hosting, domain registration and VPS to SMEs, received an initial £6.4m from BGF in August 2018. This was followed by a further £13m investment to accelerate its international expansion strategy in 2019. 

Fox Robotics seeks £400,000 to fund the commercial development of its innovative Autonomous Mobile Robots. 

PetMedix has been voted best start-up in the global Animal Pharm Awards. The UK-based start-up is developing a new tier of monoclonal antibody therapy for the animal health market. Situated in the heart of the Cambridge biotechnology cluster, 2020 will see the company take up residence in the new Babraham Campus later in the year.

From 2020 to 2022 almost 2 million new units of industrial robots are expected to be installed in factories around the world.

Last week, Beauhurst launched The Deal, its annual equity report on investment trends in the UK's startups and scaleups. A massive £12b was invested over the course of 2019, a 58% increase from 2018.  They also saw a dramatic increase in interest from abroad, with more deals completed by foreign investors than ever before. 

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), which is delivered by British Business Bank has invested a total of £2.5m into businesses based at Alderley Park, Cheshire, the UK’s largest single site life science campus.  The £2.5m invested into businesses at Alderley Park forms part of NPIF’s £10m milestone that was recently achieved in the Cheshire and Warrington region. Alderley Park offers bioscience facilities for life science companies at every stage and is home to over 200 businesses. It includes a range of workspaces, events and a community that encourages businesses to collaborate, innovate and grow.

Appointments follow investment by pan-European private equity fund manager, capital D.

Process Vision, a leading business in preventing pipeline contamination and pipeline failures in the oil and gas industries, has received investment from three members of the Henley Business Angels (HBA), contributing towards a total funding round of £383k.

At the 93rd International Selection Panel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the international jury of the non-governmental organisation Endeavor honoured the two German founders and managing directors of the Nigerian solar energy company Daystar Power as High Impact Entrepreneurs. With this seal of approval and its network, Endeavor, based in New York, honors and supports entrepreneurial personalities worldwide.