NPIF – Maven Equity Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund has invested £500,000 in fissara Limited, a designer, developer and provider of operational management software (“OMS”) for the SME and mid-sized corporate market. The funding will allow the business to invest in product development and expand its team, creating 10 new jobs in the Manchester region.

The winners of the ‘Welsh Innovation of the Year Award’ at the Welsh SME Business Awards 2019, Forth, are set to turnover £1million this year following a £250,000 equity investment from the Development Bank of Wales.

Silicon Valley Bank, the bank of the world's most innovative companies and their investors, today released the 11^th edition of its Startup Outlook Report.

The Angel CoFund (ACF) has made two appointments to the team and board. Experienced investor and former Chairman of the Angel CoFund, George Whitehead has moved into the position of Partner. Alliott Cole, the current CEO of Octopus Ventures, will also be joining the fund as Non-Exec Director. 

The Development Bank of Wales has invested £250,000 in Yimba, a fintech multimedia and marketing platform enabling banks to differentiate their mobile wallet offering and generate new consumer insights through advanced technology.

The investment, which is also expected to generate over 50 new fintech jobs, will accelerate Yimba’s capabilities to help banks and fintechs improve the customers’ experience with personalised payment cards and digital wallets, enabled by its technology platform that provides connection to the ‘closed’ digital payment network.

Keensight Capital, one of the leading private equity managers dedicated to pan-European Growth Buyout [1] investments, has entered into an agreement to sell shares of smartTrade Technologies, a global leader in multi-asset electronic trading solutions, to Hg.

European proptech VC A/O PropTech has launched after raising €250m permanent capital to invest in technology companies disrupting real estate, the largest asset class in the world. With its permanent capital approach, a first in the space, the firm is able to be stage agnostic, and a more flexible and patient investor.

A/O PropTech invests from Series A to later growth stages in breakout companies, with the potential to transform the real estate industry through technology, data science and AI. To date, A/O PropTech has backed 10 companies, in Europe, USA, and Israel including Bricklane, Fornova and most recently Plentific - leading a $32mn Series B round in November 2019. 

Start-ups are twice as likely to succeed if mentoring is involved, as opposed to those who try and build their venture on a good idea and funding alone*. 

Yorkshire-based SME funding specialist One Stop Business Finance has completed a major investment programme at its HQ to increase office space and facilitate its projected growth in both personnel numbers and client deals during 2020.

The self-funded £100,000 capital programme at OBSF’s base, ‘The Cow Shed’ in Laytham near Pocklington, has boosted office space by 150%. which ensures it can accommodate additional team members in operational and management roles. Details of the new posts will be announced in the coming months, but the company is looking to boost the size of its team as the number of deals it is completing for clients UK-wide continues to grow.

Foresight has made a £500,000 growth capital investment into Novel Technologies Holding Limited, developers of antimicrobial technology SILVERbac.  This is the third investment made by the £20 million Foresight Scottish Growth Fund which is financed by the Scottish Growth Scheme through a combination of Scottish Government funds and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and is part of a wider £2.1 million funding round for NTH.

The Midlands Private Equity Growth Barometer released this week by BDO highlights the region’s 50 fastest-growing private equity-backed businesses based on turnover growth in the past three years.

The top 50 PE-backed businesses have made a considerable impact over the last three financial years, adding almost £1 billion to the regional economy, with combined revenues rising from £1.7 billion to £2.7 billion.

Collision Management Systems (CMS), the connected vehicle data specialist, working with insurers, fleets and remote worker organisations to reduce employee risk, has raised a second round of funding from BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor in growing businesses, to further accelerate its growth.