An innovative treatment for those suffering from the effects of a debilitating medical condition is now a step closer after a significant investment from NorthInvest.

Created by doctors who work on the front line, the technology developed by Renephra helps patients dealing with chronic fluid overload including Lymphoedema – a condition which affects 200 thousand people across the UK.

The treatment aims to improve a patient’s quality of life, allowing them to spend more time with friends, family and loved ones. Treatment which would normally take place in a hospital setting will now be able to be administered at home.

This report by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan‘s Sustainable Development Office looks at how to improve the ability for London to be a centre for #cleantech with a specific focus on increasing the number of women in the space.

Dorset Business Angels (DBA) have been reflecting on their raising and facilitating of investments in excess of £2.5 million since the organisation’s formation in 2013.  Its vision has always been to turn Dorset into one of the UK’s best regions for setting up high growth and start-up businesses by providing quality, private equity investment opportunities to local high net worth (HNW) and sophisticated investors (SI).

The DBA network prides itself on its diverse mix of Angels, many of whom are entrepreneurs who are running or have exited from highly successful businesses and are now looking to help, support and invest in upcoming local talent.

Leading Sports and Media, a Cardiff based sports promotion and digital marketing company that provides commercial development for professional cycling races and teams, has secured substantial investment towards the Lead Cycle Tour (LCT) Euro Cup series of races it has planned to start in 2019.

Over 300 professional road cycling races take place in Europe annually attracting millions of spectators. Historically, there is an under capitalization on the advertising, sponsorship and merchandising opportunities created from this spectator interest. Founder of LSM, Eifion Weinzweig, a former professional racer previously based in France but from South Wales, realised the opportunity, and secured the business rights to 20 of the top races. An innovative commercialisation model, which will be known as the Lead Cycle Tour (LCT) Euro Cup, was developed and quickly attracted the attention of professional cycling’s governing bodies. However, the company required investment to exploit the opportunity.

HBAN plans to recruit 50 new female business angel investors over the next three years.  HBAN will run a series of events to encourage more female investors to invest in ambitious start-ups based on the island of Ireland seeking to expand internationally. The new female investors will bring a combined €10 million of new business angel funds.

Foresight Group has made a substantial investment into Caphan Trading Limited, trading as The Children’s Furniture Company, on behalf of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund.

Based in Milton Keynes, The Children’s Furniture Company designs, manufactures and sells a wide range of children’s furniture.

After developing its own e-commerce store, the firm now supplies several national retailers - offering durable furniture at an affordable price point compared to its competitors. 

Investment platform Downing Crowd has launched its first bond to offer investors an attractive fixed return of 7.5% p.a. plus the potential for added equity upside. 

The Pelham House Bond has a relatively high estimated loan-to-cost (LTC) ratio of 74% and to allow the business to invest in its growth, Downing investors’ interest will be rolled up for the first two years – making it aimed at more sophisticated investors. To reward investors for taking on this higher level of risk, the bond will also give shares to investors in proportion to their debt investment. This equity entitles investors to a share in any potential upside over the term of the investment.

EBAN has published the latest edition of its Compendium of Co-investment Funds with Business Angels which is now available online. The Compendium is intended to assist business angels, entrepreneurs and other readers interested in the early stage investment market and learning about different forms of collaboration between business angels and public authorities.

This year, EBAN has enriched the publication with two new chapters on the importance of co-investment funds to support angel investing as well as on best practices and FAQs for setting up co-investment funds.

Technology’s transformative effect has touched every corner of today’s world. Its commercial, social and political impact has been unprecedented.

PEER-TO-PEER development loans platform Blend Network has secured £10m of funding from private investors.  The late-seed round of financing was backed by investors including Cyrus Ardalan, former vice chair of Barclays and current chair of OakNorth Bank and Citigroup Global Markets, the family office of Publicis Group chairman Maurice Levy and Jean-Phillipe Blochet, co-founder of hedge fund Brevan Howard.  The London-based firm said on Monday that the oversubscribed funding round comprises a combination of equity, to scale up the business, and commitments to lend via the platform.

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and Bamboo Capital Partners, an impact investing platform, are launching a partnership to establish an investment vehicle that will support the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the world’s poorest 47 nations, known as the Least Developed Countries.

Giles Andrews OBE, co-founder of Zopa, the world’s first marketplace lender, will join Dynamic Credit as Chairman of their Supervisory Board, subject to regulatory approval. The Board will have three members and serves to strengthen the corporate governance of Dynamic Credit Group (DCG), which comprises of the asset manager and direct lender Dynamic Credit and the investor servicing platform LoanClear.