While the rumblings and political discontent continues around Brexit and the purported 'turmoil' the UK is in, according to Donald Trump anyway, it is sometimes prudent to take stock of what we're good at and how the rest of the world perceives the UK.

NVM Private Equity (NVM) has invested £3m of growth capital into leading indoor climbing business The Climbing Hangar (TCH). Indoor climbing is a growing sport that blends socialising with health and fitness and TCH aims to provide access to its superior facilities at an affordable cost, catering to a growing community of highly engaged climbing enthusiasts and novices alike.

Tech Nation has announced that five of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs and founders will join the Tech Nation board this summer, 

ZOPA has raised £44m in the first stage of a new fundraising round, in the latest sign that the peer-to-peer lender is preparing to go public.

OurCrowd, a leading global equity crowdfunding platform has been named the most active venture capital investor in Israel in a ranking published by Seattle-based market research company PitchBook Data, Inc.

Profit with purpose food company Farmstand has raised $3 million, led by Kindred Capital.  The funding will support the compnay in its mission to make a healthier plant-powered diet accessible to all.

HMRC have received a record breaking £5.2bn from inheritance tax for the 2017/2018 tax year, an eight percent increase,

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OurCrowd Labs/02, a leading seed stage incubator focused on deep tech innovation has signed a collaboration agreement with two of South Korea’s leading venture capital firms: DTNI and Yozma Group Korea. These agreements, facilitated by the Korea-Israel Industrial R&D Foundation (KORIL-RDF), are aimed at strengthening bilateral strategic collaboration, investments, as well as promoting partnerships between companies within the two countries. The areas of collaboration specifically identified are focusing on rapidly growing deep-tech startups.

YFM Equity Partners (YFM), the specialist private equity fund manager, has invested £4.5m from its managed funds into Collaborative Project Management Services (CPMS) to support the continued growth of the business through ongoing new product and market development.  YFM’s investment is the sixth investment from its £46m buyout fund.  CPMS provides multidiscipline Project Management to the railway system across track, signalling, telecoms, civils, and overhead lines.  CPMS has built a very strong reputation for excellence and is one of only seven companies to be awarded top marks under Network Rail’s Performance Supplier feedback process.  

We all want a secure financial future and to be able to fund the lifestyle we want for ourselves and our family.  One way of gaining some control over your financial future is by putting your capital into an investment portfolio. This needs to be implemented correctly and requires staying disciplined though the challenge of the rise and fall of the markets. 

Littleblackdress.co.uk, the fashion business of Alesha Dixon has has closed a fourth funding round and has now raised a total of £2.5m. The latest cash injection will be used for job creation and further expansion.