Vala Capital, the venture capital firm, has added accomplished technology entrepreneur and investor John Swingewood to its investment committee.

Foresight Group has launched the FP Foresight Global Real Infrastructure Fund (“GRIF” or “the Fund”). The Fund, which has received FCA regulatory approval, will be actively managed and will invest directly into publicly listed companies that own and operate real infrastructure or renewable energy assets globally.  It is targeting a total return of more than 3% per annum above the rate of UK inflation (measured by UK CPI).

New research from Intertrust shows an overwhelming majority (94%) of UK-based financial services industry decision-makers believe that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the most potential to revolutionise the sector over the next five years, considerably ahead of blockchain (53%) and the Internet of Things (24%). 

Product Guru, an online platform described as ‘Tinder for retail buyers and product suppliers’, has secured a £300,000 investment.

The Scottish company has received financial backing from Asia-based retail technology investor Belmond Capital, Scottish retailer Scotmid and Scottish Enterprise.

Buyers from high street retailers including John Lewis, Tesco and TK Maxx have already signed up to use the technology platform, which allows their buyers to find new products for their shelves.

Silverfleet Capital, the leading Pan-European private equity firm, has agreed to acquire Microgen Financial Systems Limited, a leading provider of Trust & Fund Administration (T&FA) software to the Trust and Corporate Services industry. The transaction is subject to the approval of the shareholders of the seller, Aptitude Software Group plc.

OurCrowd, a leading global investment platform and Israel’s most active venture investor, has announced that Alec Ellison, former Vice Chairman of Jefferies, LLC, 

MMC Ventures has launched the £52 million MMC Greater London Fund as part of the Mayor of London’s new initiative - the Greater London Investment Fund.

The MMC Greater London Fund (GLF) will enable investment into the most innovative, high-potential digital companies in London; to unleash their potential with the funding required to accelerate their growth; and to support their journeys with valuable connections, resources and experience. MMC will invest from the GLF at Seed and Series A, creating a portfolio in which MMC can deploy significant capital, utilising MMC Ventures’ other funds, over multiple rounds as they scale.

Sorted, the global delivery experience company, today announces it has secured £15 million in a recent funding round led by Praetura Ventures and NVM Private Equity LLP. This follows earlier rounds of investment from Praetura and NVM, bringing Sorted’s funding to a total of £22m over the last four years.  The funding will be used to accelerate Sorted’s ambitious global product roadmap, following the recent launch of its revolutionary delivery tracking solution, SortedREACT, which joins additional intelligent services in the firm’s product suite: SortedHERO and SortedPRO. 

Suir Valley Ventures, the entrepreneur-led venture capital fund launched in partnership with Shard Capital Partners LLP to invest in early stage software companies across a range of high-tech verticals, is pleased to announce its participation alongside Atlantic Bridge, in a €1.1 million investment round for Ambisense Ltd, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) environmental analytics company. The round was also supported by Enterprise Ireland and a number of private investors.

Awen Collective has secured seed investment through Startup Funding Club (SFC)’s early stage funds. The Welsh cyber-security startup, which develops digital forensics software solutions for Industrial Control Systems, Robotics and Internet-of-Things devices, helps manufacturers and critical infrastructure providers reduce the time spent before and after a cyber-attack or cyber-physical incident.  The funds obtained from the SFC Angel Fund and the SFC SEIS Fund will enable Awen Collective to further grow and continue to provide client successes with Digital Forensics & Incident Response across Critical Infrastructure & Manufacturing. Additionally to SFC’s investment, to encourage its growth and international expansion, Awen Collective will receive support from the Tech Nation Cyber programme.

The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm, has partnered with ACTINEO, the leading German InsurTech Player specialized in bodily injury claims, providing tech-enabled and data-driven services to the insurance industry. 

The rising trend of private capital investment is being well serviced in Guernsey due to the global finance specialist’s flexibility to meet investors’ sophisticated requirements, sector experts agreed at the 2019 Guernsey Funds Forum.