Flavia Richardson, portfolio Manager for the London Co-Investment Fund , considers the 5 elements which classify an outperforming company.

Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging, a global specialist in advanced diagnostics for equine and companion animals, has successfully completed a management buyout led by mid market private equity firm August Equity. As a result of the deal, NPI Investors as well as the LBA EIS Tracker Fund 4 have made a greater than 5x return on their investment.

Beringea has led a £6.5m investment in Exonar, a leading data discovery and management software firm. Downing Ventures, the early stage investor, has also participated in the round alongside notable existing investors, Amadeus Capital Partners and Winton Ventures.

Enterprises are facing a fundamental change in the way they process and store information. An exponential increase in data volume means organisations must find new ways to understand the risk as well as the opportunities in their data. Driven by new regulation, cyber threats and competition, organisations who use data they hold effectively will survive and thrive.

2019 is set to be a ‘buyers’ market’ for the UK’s top professionals, as the nation’s war for talent intensifies.

New research¹ from Robert Half UK reveals employers currently face a talent dilemma, where they must look to plug a widening skills gap in the race to adapt to an increasingly digitalised business landscape. Nearly a third (32%) of over 1,200 UK employees surveyed believe their skillset will be more desirable over the coming months – even against the current economic and political climate – as the supply/demand imbalance of the UK’s top talent heightens.

Resonance, a social impact investment company, with a head office in Cornwall, worked with Smile Together as advisers on the investment raise.

BII, the social investment arm of The Big Issue, provided investment to Smile Together CIC, a local employee-owned social enterprise and Community Interest Company, in late 2018. The investment is helping to finance the refurbishment of a former grammar school into a purpose-built dental centre for the community.

The opening of the centre, located on Harleigh Road in Bodmin Cornwall, will increase access to emergency, specialist and routine dental care, provide enhanced access and facilities for all patient groups, and also increase the availability of preventative support, education and treatment programmes. An adjoining part of the building will eventually house other local businesses, promoting further financial sustainability for Smile Together.

Venture Capital firm Boundary Capital has invested £200,000 in Torsion Information Security, a disruptive cyber security company, delivering Secure Data Access Control. The London start up helps businesses get control of ‘who has access to what’, among massive collections of files, folders and sites.

Inappropriate access to data is a leading cause of information security breaches. Torsion uses Machine Learning to seamlessly engage business users in the security of their own information, to precisely control access and drive robust security outcomes for the business.

Palamon Capital Partners, one of Europe’s leading growth private equity firms, has announced that it has elected Philippe Arbour to the Partnership, 

The latest HMRC ISA Bulletin confirmed that ISA subscriptions cannot be held with eMoney providers. Goji, the specialist direct lending investment manager and platform, comments on how this could impact the investment industry and the P2P sector. 

Firefly, a suite of school learning tools used in 40 countries and first developed by co-founders Simon Hay and Joe Mathewson while preparing for their GCSEs, has secured £5 million funding from Downing Ventures, alongside BGF and Beringea.  Firefly has the potential to cut school administration by 50 per cent and connect teachers, students and parents to share lesson plans and assign and review homework directly, both in and out of the classroom. In partnership with other best of breed tools, such as content providers, Firefly aims to create one, simple to manage, school ecosystem.

By Caspar Bowes, Bowes Wine

We’ve been in the throes of the latest burgundy offering of late, not only visiting the region but shuttling back-and-forth to Capital City for a silly number of tastings relating to this latest, 2017 vintage.

Beringea has led a £9m investment in AccessPay, a Manchester-based fintech firm. The funding round, backed also by US investors True Ventures and Route 66, is one of the largest ever investments in a financial technology company in the North. Maria Wagner, Investment Director at Beringea, led the deal.

The investment also marks the expansion of Beringea’s footprint in the North of England, as the firm has launched its first dedicated office in the region in central Manchester. This expanded presence will enable Beringea to work more closely with the region’s scaling businesses and provide capital to support the acceleration of the region’s digital economy.

BGF, the most active investor in small and mid-sized businesses in the UK, has expanded its Midlands investment team with the appointment of Tom Horton.