The new board of the Greater London investment Fund (GLIF), who will support the Mayor’s vision to grow and support the SME ecosystem in the capital, has been announced.

The Chairman of the newly-launched GLIF will be serial entrepreneur, investor and Funding London board member David Prais. Joining David will be Maggie Rodriguez-Piza, CEO of Funding London, and Pauline Barnett, philanthropist, entrepreneur and member of Funding London board.

Maven Capital Partners has completed a £2.5 million investment to support the continued growth of pioneering software developer Filtered Technologies Limited.

Filtered Technologies Limited provides advanced, AI-driven learning and development software to the corporate market, as well as training content to the corporate and retail markets. Maven’s investment will help to accelerate Filtered’s continued technological innovation and further strengthen its highly regarded customer success and sales teams as the business grows.

Non-profit organisation Diversity VC has published ‘Diversity in UK Venture Capital 2019’, a report which analyses the gender, ethnic, education, and career backgrounds of venture capital professionals in the United Kingdom. The report is authored by Diversity VC, and sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank.

Beauhurst has analysed the North / South regional divide in the UK in terms of high-growth company distribution and allocation of equity funding and innovation grants across England to find out just how profound it is.

By Tom Hopkins, Business Development Director at Parkwalk

The latest international university league table, compiled by data and research group QS and published in June, saw Oxford rising from fifth to fourth overall. This move up the global ranking coincides with increased interest in the investment opportunities presented by its spin-out companies. 

In this piece, Tom Hopkins of Parkwalk looks at how Oxford is producing world beating companies that are of strategic importance to the UK, and how investors can access the investment opportunities spinning out of one of the best universities in the world.

Peter Briffett is a serial entrepreneur with a difference. Not only did he lead multiple high growth global businesses, he is the first person in the UK who leads a fintech start-up, Wagestream, with social impact in mind. Not surprisingly, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos backed his start-up, which aims to put an end to the payday poverty cycle by letting employees access their wages early. His mission is to end the 'payday poverty cycle' that has let the likes of Wonga and QuickQuid flourish in recent years.

A data pipeline management company set up by Google alumni and supported through its early days by Y Combinator, has secured a $2 million investment from LocalGlobe and angel investors. Dataform is building a platform to transform the way businesses manage their data warehouses, helping data teams publish, test and collaborate on datasets at scale. The seed funding will help the company continue to grow both its sales and engineering sides of the business and further develop its product. 

The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm, has completed an investment in Compana, a German provider of recruitment software solutions for the temporary staffing sector and other verticals with complex recruiting requirements. The company will join forces with Riverside’s existing portfolio company GermanPersonnel, bringing together two e-recruiting businesses with a complementary skillset to drive innovation and growth.

BAFTA Cymru award-winning, multi-platform production company ie ie productions is focusing on strengthening its female leadership team following a loan from the Development Bank of Wales. 

Main Capital has made an investment of nearly 50 million Euro in GBTEC, a leading player in Business Process Management. With a strategic stake of 51 percent, Main Capital pushes the continuous growth and progressive internationalization of the software specialist from Bochum, Germany.

New research from secured property lender Fitzrovia Finance reveals a lack of understanding of some of the fundamental risks involved through investing through property investment platforms. 75% of investors who have used these platforms wrongly believe first charge secured debt/loans are riskier than second charge mezzanine debt/loans.  A further 7% said they didn’t know which was riskier.

Maven Capital Partners has funded manufacturer and supplier of homelifts, Stiltz Limited, with a £1m loan facility from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF). The debt package will allow the business to execute its growth plan; upgrade its internal system and IT infrastructure, invest in stock to meet growing customer demand in the UK and overseas for its products, whilst creating 16 new jobs in the region.