ThinCats, the fintech lender for mid-sized SMEs, today welcomes a new £20 million funding commitment from British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank.

British Business Investments is making the new commitment under its Investment Programme, which supports the development of more diverse debt finance markets for small and medium sized businesses. The commitment will provide ThinCats with additional capital to make term loans which will support the growth of businesses across the UK.

Catering management software company Spoonfed is planning major expansion in the US, following £575,000 of development funding from Equity Gap.  

Aimed specifically at contract catering firms and restaurants supplying catering to businesses, universities, hospitals and many other institutions, Spoonfed’s SaaS (Software as a Service) platform creates real efficiencies for caterers and provides a straightforward ordering system for their customers. 

Jenson Funding Partners has announced an investment in Col8 Ltd, a technology company that provides video management services through its proprietary platform. Their solution allows users to intuitively navigate video footage to quickly find points of interest.

Idinvest Partners, a leading investor in SMEs across Europe, has today announced the final closing of its second capital growth fund (Idinvest Growth Fund II) at €340m, surpassing its initial target of €300m. Idinvest Growth Fund II brings together a panel of renowned investors, of whom more than 75% are based outside France.

Deepbridge, the Chester-based tax-efficient investment manager, has announced a further increase in its yearly funding to an increased range of companies based in the North West.

Over the course of 2018, the growth capital provided over £12.5 million in funding to 33 companies, in addition to £12 million provided to 22 companies in the previous year, via its Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed EIS (SEIS) funds.

Graham Bishop, Investment Director at Heartwood Investment Management comments on whether the UK is stockpiling ahead of Brexit. 

ChargedUp, the UK’s first mobile charging network, is applying the bike-sharing model to mobile device charging, after closing a £1.2 million seed investment led by Sir John Hegarty’s fund The Garage and ex-Innocent Smoothie founders fund JamJar.

Addressing consumer frustrations of being caught out with a dying phone battery and nowhere to charge it, ChargedUp has built the UK’s first mobile phone charging network.  For 50p, users can rent a power bank to charge devices while on the move and return it at a different location.

Angel-backed peer-to-peer tasking app Pinga has announced its expansion across Central London, following a successful launch in Hackney last year. 

Idinvest Partners, a leading investor in SMEs across Europe, today announces the appointment of Bao Dinh as Investment Director in the Venture Capital team. In this position, Bao will be involved in sourcing, analysing and executing investments for the Venture Capital team, both in France and in Europe.

Jenson has made it's latest investment in VANUSE Ltd, an on-demand mobile marketplace app designed for the courier, removals and man-and-van sectors. The app allows customers to book deliveries instantly and get the appropriate driver based on location and the size of the package to be delivered.

The company enables individual delivery providers of all sizes from small, medium and large vans to accept jobs based on the size of package and location. The platform has a unique pricing algorithm that prices jobs that work both for the customer and the driver. The company's differentiation from its competitors, by being both customer and driver focused. Also, Vanuse’s focus is on the underserved 'larger items' space, the ability to 'instantly' book a service and the ability to collect items within an hour of booking.

Vala Capital, the UK venture capital firm, has appointed Jane Holland, ex-Financial Director at investment company The Ingenious Group, as the firm’s new COO.

The latest British Bank Business Report^[i] paints a worrying picture of the risks small businesses take to secure finance for their business.  Purbeck Insurance Services, the UK’s only provider of Personal Guarantee Insurance is urging the owners and directors of small businesses to seek professional advice before committing to a finance arrangement for their business and to make maximum use of the insurance protection available to owners of SMEs should their business fail.