Foresight Group and Williams Advanced Engineering has made a £1.6 million investment into Oxford University spin-out Mixergy Limited, which is set to revolutionise the global hot water tank market and reduce the cost of energy for consumers.

Mixergy was founded in 2014 by Peter Armstrong, CEO, and Ren Kang, Head of R&D, following the completion of their PhD research at Oxford University where the duo originally developed the idea during their doctoral research.  The team has since grown to 17 staff and built strong relationships with British Gas, a major installer of tanks.

Ada Ventures has raised a $34m (£27m) fund. At present, 92 in every 100 dollars invested in Europe goes to all male teams (1), 83% founders are white (2), 82% are university educated (3). In the UK, a quarter of investment committees saw no female founders in 2017 (4) and 72% of Venture Capital funding is invested in London alone (5).

Kevin Monserrat of Consilience Ventures takes a critical look at the traditonal investment model.

Robert Crowter-Jones, Head of Private Equity at Saranac Partners gives his market update and 2020 predictions.

The Invested Investor has released a new book, centred around the challenges entrepreneurs face along the start-up journey. Titled Founder to Founder: Tips and tales from 100 Entrepreneurs and Investors, the publishers have managed to include content from our 100 global entrepreneurial leaders.

Maven Capital Partners has led a £600,000 investment in military grade security and intelligence platform, Intelligence Fusion Limited. The funding has been provided by the Finance Durham Fund, established by Durham County Council and existing investors. The follow-on investment will support the business as it enters its next phase of development to further invest in an in-house technology team to make significant enhancements to its platform. The investment will also strengthen the sales and marketing and intelligence team to enhance the quantity and quality of reported incidents and add artificial intelligence tools to the collection of security information. The funding will create a total of 10 new jobs.

Sukhendu Pal looks at the motivations of joining a start up and considers how you can assess if you are the right 'fit' to work with a business in its earliest stages.

The most important question you need to ask yourself when joining a start-up is why. Some people do it because they hate their current jobs. Some people do it because they want to get rich. Others do it because it’s the cool thing to do. Ultimately, when you are looking to join a start-up you need to understand the real motivational factors behind your search, because if your reasons do not align with the opportunity, it is likely you will be neither happy nor successful.

Over the past three decades, Sukhendu has worked for couple of iconic start-ups, founded a successful start-up, and invested in more than a dozen start-ups in a personal capacity, and nearly a hundred start-ups in a professional capacity. Here he provides a practical guide that people wishing to join a start-up should consider when looking for the next could-be big thing.

NVM Private Equity has invested £11.6m in supporting the management buy-out of Merseyside-based Knowsley Contractors Limited, trading as King Construction, a provider of civil engineering and construction services as it embarks on the next phase of its growth strategy.

Founded in 2002, the business operates a dedicated workforce of 220 from five locations and is led by an ambitious senior management team of four; Managing Director Dave Prescott, Chief Operating Officer Campbell Crawford, Finance Director Simon Warner and Commercial Director Mike Taylor. At completion Gary Howse will be joining the King team as Non-executive Chairman.

The Senior Managers & Certification Regime that has just come into effect is a positive step for the financial services industry – but its failure to include Appointed Representative Firms (ARFs) and their individuals is an oversight, according to Sturgeon Ventures, the regulatory incubator.

Mid-market private equity investor Livingbridge has appointed Mihir Patel and Joseph Evans as investment managers. 

Aptus Utilities Limited, one of the UK’s leading providers of multi-utility services, has secured a £12.8m investment from private equity firm WestBridge to assist with its growth and expansion plans.

Manchester Investor and SME Advisor, Patrick Molyneux, to join trade delegation to San Francisco with The Lord Mayor of the City of London.