January has been a record breaking month in terms of megadeals, with six equity fundraisings worth over £50m secured by UK companies during the first 31 days of the year. This is more than the number secured in any single month in 2019, which saw a total of 35 megadeals completed in the year. If the UK’s fastest-growing companies continue to secure these deals at the same rate throughout the rest of 2020, then we could see that 2019 figure doubled by the end of the year.

Squire Patton Boggs has expanded its Global Corporate Practice in London, adding significantly to its international private equity (PE) team, with the appointment of former KPMG heavyweight Stephen Ball, and leading PE practitioners Charles Leeming and Ben Squires from Simpson Thacher.  All three join as partners and will work closely with Corporate and Financial Services colleagues across the firm, in the UK and Europe, the US, Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

Angel CoFund backed LivingLens, the video feedback platform, to humanize feedback and bring the voice of the customer and employee to life, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Medallia.

Par Equity, the leading Scottish EIS Fund Manager, has appointed two new team members. Tom Croy joins as Investment Manager and Alastair Orr Ewing as Portfolio and Investor Relations Manager.

Schroders, along with Johan H. Andresen through his investment house Ferd, and other prominent investors such as FinTech Collective, have invested in Antler, taking the capital raised by Antler over the past six months to more than USD $75 million.

Ingenious has invested in TeraView, the pioneer and leader in terahertz technology and solutions, as part of a $6m A-series investment round. 

Moteefe, the e-commerce platform for on-demand production of merchandise, has raised $5M in a Series A round led by Gresham House and Force Over Mass Capital. The funding will be used to expand into new geographies including Australia and LATAM, launch new products for large retailers, and invest in scaling its operations.

Equity Gap, the Edinburgh based business angel syndicate, reports its 2019 performance, which saw the firm deliver 23 funding rounds, add 5 new companies to its portfolio and win the UK Business Angel Association’s ‘Most active investor in the regions’ award.

Equity Gap invested £3.6m last year, taking the total portfolio value since it was founded in 2010 to £16.2m. Factoring in the involvement of partners and other stakeholders, this activity leveraged a record total investment into the portfolio of £21.5m for the year.

NURVV, the biomechanics innovator using British science to disrupt the global wearables industry, has closed its first venture funding round, led by Hiro Capital.

Family run plant nursery will use the funding to accelerate growth plans, diversify its customer base and take advantage of new market opportunities.

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund Debt Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners, has provided Opperman Plants Limited, a Spalding-based wholesale nursery supplier, with a £250,000 funding solution.

BLEND Network, the leading property investment platform specialising in funding low-cost, accessible housing developments has completed the advance of a £460,000 loan to finance the acquisition and redevelopment of a former shoe factory in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire into residential apartments.

The loan was subscribed in just 29 minutes and will part finance the acquisition of the development site, enabling to borrower to develop the property into a fully residential scheme. The site already benefits from detailed planning consent to convert in 24 apartments. It will be developed by an innovative property development team with significant combined property development and construction experience in London and Northamptonshire.

One of the world’s fastest-growing marketplaces, which has created a fair and transparent global platform for both buyers and sellers, has received £3 million in VC funding after finalising a private investment round earlier this month.

UK-founded marketplace OnBuy.com has announced it has secured a £3 million investment from London-based VC fund Fuel Ventures after receiving numerous investment offers. The funding will facilitate the launch into more than 20 countries by the end of 2020, including the USA, Canada, Australia and the UAE.