Pioneering ethical P2P/crowdfunding platform Abundance equity raise on Seedrs is now fully funded with more than the £1.2m target raised.  It took just 13 days in the end and attracted more than 750 investors, the majority of whom were Abundance’s existing customers, achieving the companies aim to share its success and ownership with its remarkably loyal customer base.

Independent jewellery company Fenton & Co. has announced its launch into the UK market, challenging the lack of transparency and pricing in the industry. The launch was enabled by a £850,000 seed funding round, led by social impact investor Mustard Seed. Investment was also received via The London Co-Investment Fund, as well as a number of angel investors, including two early investors into Bloom & Wild: Camila Dolan, and Akshata Murty.

Northern Powerhouse focused company NorthInvest has announced a new partnership with Leeds based consultancy Driad.

Rejuicenate, a small business run by Liverpool-based sibling trio Adil, Leith and Dina Taha has won British Business Bank’s inaugural Good to Grow competition. The prize included a day’s business consultancy with investor and entrepreneuer, Piers Linney, who is also a Non-Executive Dircetor of the British Business Bank.

Kin Capital and Enterprise Investment Partners have announced the merger of their two businesses, subject to regulatory approval, creating a major new force in the venture capital and tax efficient investment markets.

The stronger and larger firm is perfectly geared up to face the challenges of the next few years by streamlining investment processes in order to bring a modern tax efficient investing offering.

Investing will be easier, digitally focused and more cost effective by building an even more transparent offering to investors, who will have faster reporting services too.

Maven Capital Partners has promoted five senior staff to partnership positions. The strengthening of its partnership base reflects Maven’s continued growth and the wider range of investment opportunities it now offers. The newly promoted partners are Colin Anderson (Property), Suzanne Lupton (Co-investment), Ewan McKinnon (Private Equity), David Milroy (Private Equity) and Andrew Whiteley (Property).

Foresight Group announces the £1.5m growth capital investment into Inovo Robotics Limited on behalf of the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund.

Inovo is developing a low-cost collaborative robot (“cobot”) that can integrate into existing workforce processes. Inovo’s modular design means the cobot can be easily adapted to varying customer requirements.

Henry Wood and Jonathan Cheung, previously senior engineers at Northrop Grumman, founded Inovo in 2016. Both founders possess deep technical expertise and experience of delivering complex engineering development projects and, between them, they have more than 30 years of combined experience in robotics and engineering.

Mercia Technologies investment Medherant, a developer of innovative transdermal drug delivery treatments for pain and CNS diseases, has successfully completed two Phase I studies with its novel Ibuprofen TEPI® Patch.

The TEPI Patch was shown to be well tolerated by all subjects in a study of skin irritation and sensitisation. This marks the first clinical safety evaluation of Medherant’s novel adhesive, facilitating the development of the next generation of drug-in-adhesive patches.

Europe’s attractiveness as an investment destination is on the rise compared to 2017, as the majority of global investors are more likely to invest in both the EU and the UK after Brexit, according to new Invest Europe findings.

‘Start-up Spotlight’ by Invested Investor, published in partnership with AngelNews:

In this issue of Startup Spotlight, EBAN President, Peter Cowley talks to the co-founder of Vantage Power, Alex Schey. Vantage Power designs and manufactures technology used in hybrid powertrains for new buses, as well as a retrofit solution for buses already on the road. Vantage Power's most recent award came in the form of the 'Most Disruptive Tech' at the UK British Angels Association awards 2017.

In this interview, Peter and Alex chatted about how Vantage Power took shape and about the lessons learned as an entrepreneur! 

InMotion Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s venture capital fund, today announces its investment in Arc, which today unveils ‘Vector’ – the world’s first fully-electric motorcycle with Human Machine Interface (HMI). Arc Vector is the most advanced electric motorcycle ever brought to market, using exotic materials, thoroughbred componentry and cutting-edge architecture, wrapped in a futuristic body.

The investment from InMotion Ventures, along with Mercia Fund Managers, the Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund which is part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, and a number of industry specialist angels, will support Arc with its global ambition for Vector to be the cleanest, safest, and most fulfilling motorcycle on the road.

Aiden.ai, a London based AI analytics startup, announced today that it has raised a $1.6 million seed round to fuel the company’s rapid growth and the development of the first AI powered marketing analyst.

The round has been led by Partech. Other notable investors include Sophia Bendz, who previously led marketing at Spotify for 7 years and Nicolas Pinto, founder of Perceptio which was eventually acquired by Apple.