The British Business Bank has announced that it has accredited Lutterworth-based County Finance Group for the Asset Finance variant of the Bank’s EFG programme. This will enable County Finance Group to offer additional asset finance to smaller business looking to acquire equipment or machinery to boost their growth.

Burgundy has long been regarded as not the sort of region one “visits” should bargain-hunting be on the agenda.

Stefano Maifreni, Founder of Eggeclerate, discusses why your team is as important to your figures in the early days of a business and reveals some of the secrets to hiring, and keeping, key employees. 

Venture capital firm MMC Ventures has announced the appointment of senior advisers to help guide the firm’s next phase of growth. Following major investment from the firm into its research function over the last two years, the new advisory board and venture partners will enhance the firm’s capabilities and bring even deeper experience and domain knowledge to bear.

In partnership with global law firm Penningtons Manches, Beauhurst recently produced a ground-breaking report on the investment dynamics between Britain and the investment firms of the United States. The results were fascinating, revealing that investment from the West Coast of the US into British tech has increased to record levels over the past eight years.

Mercia Fund Managers has been shortlisted for Growth Investor of the Year and Best EIS Investment Manager at the 2018 Growth Investor Awards.

Arix Bioscience plc, a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation, has announced that its Group Business Artios Pharma Limited, a leading DNA Damage Response (DDR) company developing innovative treatments for cancer, has completed an oversubscribed £65 million Series B financing following strong interest from investors.

A study released  by Scottish Friendly reveals that many British savers are suffering from a chronic case of ‘investophobia.’ The survey of 2,000 UK savers by one of the country’s largest financial mutuals reveals that many people remain reluctant to invest their money. This is despite a combination of inflation and rock bottom rates on cash accounts reducing the value of their savings in real terms.

Hazy, the London-based AI company enabling ethical, effortless and GDPR-compliant data sharing for responsible businesses, has announced an additional $1.8 million seed funding led by UCL Technology Fund, alongside Nationwide Building Society, Pentland, Amadeus Capital Partners, AI Seed and other investors.

This takes Hazy’s total seed funding to $2.8 million following a $1 million investment from M12 and Notion, awarded to the company in May, after Hazy was declared the European winner of global startup competition Innovate.AI.

Hazy, founded less than 18 months ago, was spun out of UCL (University College London), and raised £340,000 pre-seed in October 2017 in a round led by the UCL Technology Fund, which is managed by Albion Capital in collaboration with UCLB.

Octopus Investments, part of Octopus Group and the largest provider of venture capital trusts (VCTs) in the UK, has announced the launch of a £20 million joint fundraise for its two Alternative Investment Market (AIM) VCTs.

Mediolanum Asset Management (MAML), the Irish asset management company of the Mediolanum Banking Group, has appointed Astrid Schilo as Multi Asset Strategist and Inma Conde as Head of Manager Research, in Dublin. Following the hire of Christophe Jaubert as Head of Investments, the addition of Astrid and Inma is part of the continuous expansion of MAML’s investment capabilities.

UK agri-tech start-up PBD Biotech, developers of the first rapid test for live mycobacteria, has secured £400,000 in its first major strategic investment round to fund international trials and launch a suite of products.