There’s one thing we continue to hear from our SME customers right now and it might surprise you that it’s not ‘Brexit’. In fact, it’s ‘the future’. Despite the doom and gloom of Brexit causing concern for 90 percent of SMEs, the reality is that 2019 still holds a lot of opportunity for growth. As a result, many businesses are taking control and tackling these challenging times head on.

IW Capital has invested in PlayMoreGolf. PlayMoreGolf is the first flexible golf membership linking individual golf clubs across the United Kingdom under one membership providing an alternative to golfers who may not be able to justify the expense of a full golf membership but desire more choice, more value, more flexibility and more convenience whilst enjoying the benefits of golf club membership. The EIS qualifying investment of £1 million will be used to accelerate growth through the recruitment of additional staff, focused on sales and marketing.

For investors, the need to know what occupiers want, where they want to be and what they need to thrive are crucial factors to help seek out areas where performance could be maximised. Saul Western, Partner, Capital Markets at Bidwells provides an in-depth insight into why the science and technology sector are the frontrunners for investment and what ultimately makes them tick.  

The latest funding round of €10m for Atheneum, Europe’s leading global intelligence platform, follows rapid growth of the business – achieving a 60% year-on-year revenue growth in the UK.

BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor in growing businesses, has invested £6m in BB7, the high-growth fire sector specialist, to create the leading UK fire and security consultancy through acquisition. This begins with the acquisition of Manchester-based specialist fire consultancy Omega Fire, which will broaden BB7’s geographic reach and service offering to customers.

BEX Capital, the first investment firm focused exclusively on fund-of-funds (FoF) secondaries, has announced the close of BEX Fund III, with total commitments of $365 million. 

The Invested Investor interviews Jon Bradford, a Founding Partner of the venture capitalist investment fund Motive Partners and a highly experienced early-stage angel investor who is sometimes referred to as the Godfather of European Accelerators. 

Berlin-headquartered investment firm Target Global has launched its first office in the UK. The firm has €700m under management across Europe. 

Klook, a world-leading travel activities and services booking platform, has announced it has raised US$225M in Series D+ funding. This increases the company’s total Series D funding round to US$425M. The SoftBank Vision Fund led the round with participation from existing investors, including Sequoia China, Matrix Partners, TCV, and OurCrowd. This represents the largest financing in the global travel activities and services industry.

London Food Tech Week - the world’s largest week-long festival and showcase of the latest food trends and companies using technology to transform the food and drink ecosystem – will return to the capital from 20 to 24 May 2019 with a game-changing line up.

Green Angel Syndicate has announced that its members have backed a revolutionary renewable energy platform.  Green Angel Syndicate is investing in the seed funding round for The ECompany, a London-based technology company at the forefront of the renewable energy sector.

CleverTap, the customer lifecycle management platform, has announced it has raised a $26 million Series B funding round, led by Sequoia India with participation from new investor, Tiger Global Management, and existing investors Accel. The funds raised will be used to accelerate its data science-driven product capabilities and scale to meet fast-growing demand for its customer lifecycle management platform. The new funding brings the company’s valuation to more than $150 million.