Red Industries, the hazardous and non-hazardous waste management business, has secured a £39m funding package from BGF, the UK’s most active investor in growing businesses, and HSBC. 

Archangels, the Edinburgh-based business angel investment syndicate, believed to be the oldest in the world, led a record breaking £22.4m of investment in Scottish tech and life sciences businesses in 2018.

Leading private equity investment platform Seedrs has announced a record-breaking year full of industry firsts, European growth and the highest levels of investment on the platform to date. The Woodford-backed platform saw nearly a 60% increase in investment activity from last year, recording £195 million invested into pitches on the platform in 2018.  2018 saw 186 successful pitches from businesses who raised on Seedrs from 12 different countries, 28 of which were fundraises of over £1 million.  Highlights included fast-growing international money transfer platform Transfergo, which raised €11.3 million from 1,047 investors.

Mercia invested £59.7million in 2018, with over 90 per cent of the funding going to businesses outside of London and the South East. The figure, up from £48.0million the previous year, highlights Mercia’s role as one of the UK’s most active investors and a key source of funding for regional SMEs.

HBAN (Halo Business Angel Network), the all-island organisation responsible for the promotion of business angel investment, 

Institutional investors – excited by greater regulatory clarity - are going to drive “considerable expansion” of the cryptocurrency market in 2019.

Dymag Group, the British designer and manufacturer of carbon hybrid automotive wheels, is predicting a record 2019 following a £3.6m investment from Puma Private Equity.

The Plant Hub, a brand-new space coming to East London in January 2019 is set to revolutionise the way we see, eat and understand vegetables after the huge success of their Kickstarter which saw 126 backers raising £20,999. 

Bowmark Capital, the mid-market private equity firm, has announced the closing of its new fund, Bowmark Capital Partners VI, having reached its target of £600 million in just 10 weeks.  The fund is 60 per cent larger than Bowmark’s previous £375 million fund, with 94 per cent of the capital committed by investors in its prior funds.

Impact investing platform Bamboo Capital Partners has secured additional investment following a successful funding round as part of its continued drive for scale.

Since its establishment, Bamboo has raised over USD$400 million impact capital for emerging markets. The company was founded in 2007 by impact investing pioneer Jean-Philippe de Schrevel, who also co-founded BlueOrchard Finance in 2000. Bamboo has recently launched a new generation of blended finance funds, partnering with UNCDF, IFAD, World Bank and CARE, amongst others.

Green Angel Syndicate (GAS) is delighted to announce its latest investment in state-of-the-art e-bike company Swytch Technology. GAS is the largest single contributor in a round that includes investments from the Startup Funding Club, Angels Den and the London Co-Investment Fund, with a total investment of £795,000, valuing the company at over £2.5 Million.

E-bike demand is soaring with over 1.67m unit sales of electronically power-assisted cycles (EPAC) in Europe in 2016, a rise of 1,700% in just ten years. Swytch is now targeting the EU which is 15-20 times larger than its home UK market, and the USA which has seen explosive growth of up to 70% in volumes each year for the last three years.

Sigmavision, which has developed an innovative tool to check the safety of vehicle tyres, has secured £1m funding to help roll it out to the global automotive aftersales market.