With Private Debt becoming one of the cutting edge markets in the broader asset markets, The timely introduction of the DLX Direct Lending Index will give asset managers and analysts the information they need to secure more effective decisions.

eHealth Ventures, the leading Digital Health technological incubator in Israel, has announced the acceptance of its 7th portfolio company - TrainPain, managed by Dr. Elan Schneider DPT, an internationally recognized expert in chronic pain rehabilitation.

The British Business Bank has announced a commitment of up to £150m for lending to UK small businesses through Funding Circle, a global small business loans platform. The new facility will provide senior financing to a transaction with the Funding Circle SME Income Fund Limited (FCIF), a publicly traded fund that lends exclusively through Funding Circle. This new commitment extends the existing partnership between Funding Circle and the UK Government.

NVM Private Equity has announced that it has raised £142 million for its debut Institutional Fund. NVM Private Equity Vintage III has received commitments from a diverse set of high quality investors across Europe and North America.  

Octopus Investments, part of Octopus Group and the largest provider of venture capital trusts (‘VCTs’) in the UK, has announced that it has reached its half-way milestone (£60 million) in under two months for its Octopus Titan VCT.  This is the fastest that Titan has raised this sum, with rising numbers of online applications helping to drive this trend.

Three quarters (75%) of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) believe digitalisation will have a positive impact for temporary employees within the finance department, according to research

The British Business Banks’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) programme has now supported smaller businesses with 30,097 facilities totalling more than £3.2 billion.

A prominent VC firm has kick-started a campaign to increase the number of applications for investment from female founders, after discovering only 4% of 4,216 pitch decks were from female founders.

Maven Capital Partners, one of the UK’s most active private equity firms, has led a £1m series B investment in Sedgefield, County Durham based water treatment technology business, G2O Water Technologies Limited. A total of £600,000 has been provided by Maven funds, which includes a £200,000 investment from the Finance Durham Fund, established by Durham County Council, overseen by Business Durham, the economic development organisation for County Durham, and managed by Maven.

Sunday's announcement that EU leaders have agreed to the draft Brexit deal, brought forward by Theresa May, puts us one step closer to the end of the road. 

Michael Stanes, Investment Director at Heartwood Investment Management

Global investors have had a love-hate relationship with Japan for many years. Effectively ignored for two decades since the bubble years of the late 1980s (with some short bursts of enthusiasm in between), the arrival of Shinzo Abe as prime minister in 2012 kindled hopes that this sleeping giant would find its feet, and help unlock the latent potential of its corporate and consumer sectors.

Maven Capital Partners has provided Mansfield-based Proskins Limited, a manufacturer of sports and fitness apparel, with a £250,000 funding package from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), supported by the European Regional Development Fund.

The investment will be used to implement an ambitious marketing strategy to capitalise on the growing demand for its products globally and help build the firm’s presence in Germany and the US, whilst creating 10 new jobs in North Nottinghamshire.

Proskins designs and manufactures high performance leisurewear, including a wide range of men’s and women’s clothing which uses ‘compression technology’ to address poor blood-flow and fluid retention. The company has also developed a range of cosmetic products aimed at the beauty market.