Baird Capital, the direct investment arm of Robert W. Baird & Co., has announced that it has acquired a minority interest in Crisp Thinking Group. 

Foresight Group LLP has announced a £375,000 investment into Equus Products and Services Limited via the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF).

Klydo, the innovation research assistant that uses advanced machine learning technology to help consumer brands accelerate their product innovation, has announced a £1m funding round, led by Episode 1. Paul McNabb, Managing Partner of Episode 1, commented, "this was one of those where everything came together. A strong technical founding team, truly innovative technology and a clear customer use case."  The round, which also included investment from retail and consumer sector specialist True and prominent angel investor William Tunstall-Pedoe (Founder of AI assistant "Evi", acquired by Amazon to create Alexa), will be used to expand the core team and accelerate Klydo's reach in the consumer brand space.

With Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia named 3 of the top 7 most innovative EU member states, Lithuanian startup Debitum Network is poised to reshape the alternative lending business with blockchain technology

In recent years, the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have gained a reputation in financial and technological circles as being somewhat of a fintech powerhouse. In 2017, the three countries were ranked by the World Economic Forum as three of the top seven most innovative countries in the European Union alongside the United Kingdom and Sweden.

Research finds the Entertainment, E-commerce and Media sector has the highest valued startups with companies such as Uber ($68 billion) and AirBnb ($29.3 billion)

Comment by Mark Browridge, Director General of EISA

The Modern Industrial Strategy and its varying facets serve as a vital vein of progression for the nation’s network of self-start businesses. Pockets of innovation and entrepreneurial prowess in new-age sectors extend well beyond the capital, the traditional dominance of sectors such as Manufacturing in the Midlands, Financial Services in London and Technology and Media in London and the South East are by no means the complete picture.

British Business Investments published its Annual Reports and Accounts for 2017/18, its fourth year of operation. 

Foresight Group has announced a £1.7 million investment from the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund into FreeFlow Technologies Limited.

FreeFlow is developing a patented e-bike system technology that promises to be lightweight and compact, providing a higher power density than existing solutions. The Company’s novel design will improve the ride experience and bike aesthetics as it can be packaged within the bicycle frame. The Company has additionally developed an innovative mechanical transmission system for fixed wheel bikes that allows the rider to freewheel, whilst retaining the smooth ride quality of fixed wheel.

As part of the investment, Martin McCourt, former CEO of Dyson, will join as Chairman. Martin has extensive industry experience and is Chairman to a variety of companies from electrical heating to the hospitality sector. Neil Edwards, who was Group Operations Director at Dyson for 5 years will join as CTO and become a director.

Specialist provider of medical devices and equipment, IQ Medical, has received a £250,000 funding package through the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, WM Debt Finance fund, managed by Maven Capital Partners.  The funding will be used to fuel the development of new, high-performance products – allowing it to diversify its NHS Hospitals and Care Home portfolio and strengthen its sales and marketing team.

Leading cyber security software specialist, ZoneFox, has been sold by its shareholders – including Scottish business angel investment syndicates, Archangels and TriCap, Scottish Investment Bank and Napier University – to US-based Fortinet.

Global technology investor Amadeus Capital Partners has announced the addition of two UK-based partners, Nick Kingsbury and Volker Hirsch, to its team of early stage venture capital investors. Nick’s investment focus will be on cyber security, AI and B2B software businesses while Volker’s expertise is in artificial intelligence & machine learning, human-machine interfaces, enterprise SaaS, autonomous systems, digital health and medical technologies.

Two award-winning inventors with a mission to develop more sustainable batteries have secured £150,000 to help launch their latest product from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund’s Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, managed by Mercia Fund Managers.

Amrit Chandan and Carlton Cummins of Aceleron have achieved a world first by developing a lithium battery which can be fully serviced to give it a much longer lifetime. The Circa battery has already made pilot sales for domestic energy storage and electric vehicles and gained approvals to be sold in the EU. Aceleron has also found a way to turn waste battery components into second-hand batteries.