The “HBAN Business Angel Syndicate” has been formed by HBAN - Halo Business Angel Network - to bring private investors together to back high potential early stage ventures.

Business angels who are members of the HBAN Business Angel Syndicate have participated in five deals during its first six months of existence.

Among the companies to recently benefit from business angel funding are innovative hair care product company We are Paradoxx, sports facility booking firm Pitchbooking and cyber security software specialist firm Uleska. Clarendon Fund Managers operating in Belfast since 2001 has been appointed to manage the HBAN Business Angel Syndicate.

Maven Capital Partners has completed the final close of the Maven UK Regional Buyout Fund LP, which has received total commitments (including from co-investment vehicles) of £100 million from a diverse range of investors, including Scottish Enterprise - Scotland’s national economic development agency, family offices, high net-worth syndicates, pension funds, fund of funds and asset managers.

Funds advised and managed by YFM Equity Partners, the specialist private equity fund manager have backed a significant investment into Frescobol Carioca Limited.

Startup Funding Club has invested £100,000 into luxury lifestyle media brand The Jackal. 

A bond offer in Dove Renewables, which operates two hydro schemes in Ashbourne (Derbyshire) and in the River Teign in Devon, has raised £1.1 million on the Triodos crowdfunding platform.

The 11-year bond will pay 5% gross interest per year index linked. The money is being used to refinance existing higher cost bonds raised to finance construction of the scheme in 2016.

Both schemes benefit from the Government’s 20-year Feed in Tariff support mechanism for renewable energy. The Ashbourne scheme delivers wide ecological benefits in terms of fish migration in the River Dove and both schemes provide enough clean electricity every year to power the equivalent of 200 homes.

Beauhurst has released a new series exploring regional trends in the UK's high-growth ecosystem. Starting with London, which is home to a staggering 30% of ambitious companies in the country and 43% of equity backed businesses.

Comparethemarket.com has compiled profiles for 13 of the most successful entrepreneurs born in the 2000s. Their companies often started while they were still living with their parents and in full-time education. This study reveals their successes.

Luminous Ventures has appointed John Spindler as a Venture Partner.  The highly regarded entrepreneur, investor and venture capitalist has a distinguished career spanning more than 15 years.

The innogy Innovation Hub, which identifies, funds, and mentors game-changing technologies and ideas, has closed a seed investment round in FirstPoint Mobile Guard, global innovators in cellular Cybersecurity-as-a-Service.

Following the widely reported news of Tengai, the latest robot allegedly developed to remove bias from hiring processes, Juliet Eccleston, co-founder and CEO of crowdsourcing talent platform, AnyGood? has called for caution over so-called ‘miracle solutions’ to the problem of human preconceptions influencing recruitment decisions.

Beauhurst has released a new series exploring regional trends in the UK's high-growth ecosystem. Starting with London, which is home to a staggering 30% of ambitious companies in the country and 43% of equity backed businesses.

BlackCurve, a pricing optimisation company, has today announced the closing of a £1.5 M funding round, led by Pan-European VC Nauta Capital.

Founded in 2016, BlackCurve’s pricing optimisation platform helps retailers manage and optimise the price of every item they sell to achieve their business goals. The platform, powered by Artificial Intelligence, ingests data sources ranging from sales history and website page performance, right through to competitor pricing and stock levels, enabling every retailer to create smart pricing rules for their specific business.