Independently owned corporate finance adviser, Castle Corporate Finance, is a proud sponsor of the Scale-Up category at the Lloyds National Business Awards. 

James Murdoch looks into his own portfolio and ponders the falling number of SEIS opportortunites compared to EIS investments. 

Financier and author David Horne will launch the first Funding Focus Conference on 25 November at the London Stock Exchange and will challenge the VC industry to examine why it fails to invest in women.

After only two months since launching, the ‘China-ready’ investment programme for UK and European companies increases by $3 million (£2.330 million), opening up new market segments and industries to the ground-breaking accelerator.

GP Bullhound acted as exclusive financial advisor to Croud on a £30 million minority investment from private equity house LDC.

Founded in the UK in 2011, Croud provides tech-enabled digital marketing services to leading brands via an innovative and disruptive service delivery model. Croud uses its proprietary technology to support planning, automation and execution of digital marketing campaigns - and then scales this capability via its global network of 2,400 on-demand digital marketing specialists. It operates from offices in London, New York, Sydney and Shrewsbury.

ScaleUp Group has supported exclusively its client Active Navigation, a leader in Data Privacy & Governance, inc. attracting growth funding from Mobeus VCT and members of SUG itself together with the setting up of an Employee Benefit Trust.

Active Navigation, a UK registered business with Angel Funding of only £1.5 million net to date has achieved profitable growth of 60% CAGR in the last 3 years. It’s 100+ clients include some of the largest organisations, predominantly in the USA, in both the commercial and Federal sectors, helping to manage their data and to recover from or avoid serious breaches, often stimulated by GDPR and similar regulations, such as CCPA in California.

Co-founders Julien Sevaux and Tarek AbuZayyad have launched Eighteen48 Partners, a research-led private investment office addressing the needs of professional investors, sophisticated families and institutions. 

The new firm has already secured over $600m in assets under management from its founders and a group of prominent strategic investors, many of whom are shareholders, clients and advisors of the firm.  As advisors they provide specific asset class, industry and geographic expertise and contribute directly to the sourcing and evaluation of investment opportunities.  John Singer, former Managing Partner of private equity firm Advent International, is representing strategic shareholders on the Eighteen48 board.

Beechbrook Capital, the leading SME private debt fund lender, has appointed Conor Molloy as chairman of its new Irish SME fund which has made its first investment in the Republic of Ireland. Beechbrook Capital Ireland SME I is providing a €7.5 million finance package for Bio-Medical Research Limited (BMR), a world leader in electrical muscle stimulation technology for the fitness and wellness sector.

Following the release of the latest Atomico report looking at The State of European Tech, Russ Shaw, founder of Tech London Advocates & Global Tech Advocates, comments:

Startup Funding Club has led a £250,000 seed round into fintech company Ember. The accounting software startup strives to make business simpler for contractors and SMEs by automating the entirety of the business administration and tax process.

Ember believes in an economy powered by small business and is creating a future where independent workers and companies can thrive without the need for an accountant. Its software helps businesses manage their financial obligations by automating the entire accounting process from bank transaction through to tax submission. Ember allows its users to see all the relevant numbers in one central feed – and even replaces technical terms for language that is easy to understand.

The Management team of Professional Music Technology has completed a Management Buyout of the business, with financing provided by YFM Equity Partners and the founders of the business.

Celonis, the market leader in AI-enhanced Process Mining and Process Excellence software, has raised approximately $290 million in Series C funding, valuing the company at $2.5 billion. Leading global enterprises including 3M, Airbus, Danaher, L’Oréal, Lufthansa, Siemens, and Uber rely on Celonis to improve the efficiency of their finance, supply chain, IT, sales, and customer service functions.  Arena Holdings led the round alongside a group of principal investors and established entrepreneurs who have successfully scaled profitable, high-growth businesses.