Pitch@Palace, the programme established by The Duke of York to guide and support Entrepreneurs in the development of their businesses, has  announced 42 entrepreneurs who have been selected to Pitch at Pitch@Palace Boot Camp on 4 October at Cambridge Judge Business School.

BGF has exited its minority investment in NewVoiceMedia, the market-leading cloud customer contact platform, as the business is acquired by NYSE-listed communications provider Vonage Holdings Corp for $350m.

BGF invested in the London-headquartered business in 2015, joining a round of funding to accelerate NewVoiceMedia’s international growth plans, which was principally focused on the North American market.

SLAMcore, a UK company developing spatial artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for robots and drones, has raised $5m in funding led by global technology investor Amadeus Capital Partners. Existing investors Mirai Creation Fund and Toyota AI Ventures joined the round alongside newcomers MMC Ventures and Octopus Ventures.

“The robotics revolution may seem just around the corner but there is still a big gap between the videos we see on the internet and real-world robots,” said CEO, Owen Nicholson. “SLAMcore is helping robot and drone creators to bridge the gap between demos and commercially-viable systems.” 

British Business Bank plc has appointed Catherine Lewis La Torre as CEO of the Bank’s patient capital activities delivered through its commercial arm.

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) is marking another milestone as it celebrates backing £100 million of investment across the Northern Powerhouse region.

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Thanks to technologies like blockchain, the pace of investment is faster than ever. But with many smaller investors looking for a less volatile alternative to cryptocurrency trading, alternative finance (AF) providers are emerging as a smarter choice for those looking to balance their investments.

State Street Global Exchange has released the results of the State Street Investor Confidence Index® (ICI) for September  2018.

NPIF - Maven Equity Finance, part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, one of the UK’s most active SME investors, has invested £500,000, in inTech Business Solutions. An independent network of end-to-end technology consultancy set to revolutionise specialist support services for SMEs, the funding secured will fuel Intec’s recruitment drive to strengthen the team creating over 40 new jobs and help the company to develop and grow their network.

Founded in 2016, Intec is a recent entrant to the business technology sector, building a network of mobile partners and provide specialist support services and solutions to their customers. Intec works with SMEs and business leaders to help them to identify and design technology business models offering a fully scalable solution with technology that can grow with the business.

I was in Northern Spain recently exploring the vineyards  of Ribera del Duero and Toro, tasting a great many stunning (almost exclusively red) wines and eating exceptionally fine food.

Seven new Prosperity Partnerships projects that will build links between the UK’s research base and leading industry partners such as AkzoNobel, AstraZeneca, Google, Rolls-Royce, Tata Steel, and Weir Group, plus small-to-medium enterprise, Oxford PV have been unveiled by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). This EPSRC £20.4 million investment has leveraged in £16.8 million from industry partners and a further £4.9 million from universities.

Talis Capital, a London-based venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology companies, has announced it has led a $3 million seed funding round into Edge Intelligence, developer of the first geographically distributed analytics platform built for both edge computing and hybrid cloud environments.