Edinburgh based private equity fund, Inverleith LLP, has invested further into Braham and Murray Good Hemp, a plant based food and drink brand which manufactures products from hemp seed.

Inverleith LLP invests into consumer brand companies within the health & wellbeing, lifestyle and heritage sectors. It specialises in internationalising and commercialising brands, helping them to realise their full potential. Its Partners are ex Chairman and Chief Executive of Noble Group, Ben Thomson and ex Chief Executive of The Glenmorangie Company and Partner L Capital (LVMH), Paul Skipworth.

CROWDPROPERTY has promised a pipeline of new loans to fund for the rest of the year as it approaches its fourth anniversary.

Benefex Holdings Limited, owner of the market leading employee experience platform OneHub, has announced that Bain Capital Private Equity has signed a definitive agreement for an investment in Benefex. As part of the transaction, BGF, which has backed Benefex since 2011, will exit its minority stake.

The Greater Manchester Loan Fund, managed by Maven Capital Partners, has completed its 32^nd deal investing £500,000 in Manchester-based LOFT Interiors a leading supplier in furniture solutions for the broad residential property sector. Funding will be used to support the continued development of LOFT’s operations, product, and team, to facilitate growth opportunities in existing and new markets. With over 80 staff already operating from LOFT’s offices in Manchester and London, the investment is expected to create eight new jobs in the region.

Triple Point, which provides innovative and compelling investment solutions for private and institutional investors, announces the first investment of its Impact EIS managed service of up to £250,000 in MWS Technology, a company that is transforming the efficiency and compliance of organisations that deliver apprenticeship training through its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform Aptem.

The investment will support the growth of MWS, significantly increasing its workforce and helping to develop Aptem, the only end-to-end technology platform software that can deliver the functionality required for forward-thinking training providers.

Electric autonomous vehicle company, the Academy of Robotics, has closed its latest funding round in under six hours. Investment came in so quickly that founder William Sachiti turned down an additional £500,000 that was offered.

The Academy of Robotics is currently developing Kar-Go, the autonomous delivery vehicle. Kar-Go hopes to shake-up the delivery market by removing 90% of the costs involved in making a delivery – helping to increase profits for logistics companies and decrease costs for consumers.

By using a combination of advanced robotics and driverless vehicle technology, Kar-Go is designed to autonomously drive on unmarked roads such as residential areas. Unlike many driverless vehicles that are best-suited to main roads and highways, Kar-Go is specifically designed with small, residential side-streets in mind.

BGF is to exit its investment in employee benefits firm Benefex, the first company to receive BGF funding when it launched in 2011. BGF’s minority stake will be acquired by Bain Capital.

The acquisition will enable Benefex to benefit from synergies with Bain Capital’s investments in the HR technology sector as the company moves to the next stage of its growth strategy. Founder Matt Macri-Waller will continue as shareholder and CEO.

Private equity fund distributions have outweighed capital calls by a significant and striking degree over the past five years.

Data from eFront, the world’s leading alternative investment management software and solutions provider, shows that since the start of 2013, distributions from private equity funds have remained at historically high levels, while capital calls have fallen steadily to their lowest level on record, when measured as a proportion of committed capital. 

Download the full report, click here.

Benjamin Matthews, Investment Manager at Heartwood Investment Management, gives his views on the emerging biotech opportunities arising from demographic shifts.

Richard di Benedetto has been appointed as a director and non-executive chairman of Mercia Fund Managers investment Braintrain2020.

Following a new financing round earlier this year and Nesta’s Open Banking prize last year, London based invoice finance provider Investly has opened their platform to help partners such as banks, working capital providers, e-invoicing platforms and retail/wholesale marketplaces serve their business customers the financing they need. Investly provides selective invoice discounting to businesses in the UK and Estonia for which it has built the credit model, operations and technology with the aim of expanding the reach of businesses that can be served sustainably. 

UK based e-learning specialist Candle Learning has announced the launch of their latest online tool, designed specifically to help commercial training companies to assess the potential of integrating e-learning into their services.