From Dusty to Science – A Wine Journey

Way back in a distant history shrouded in the mists of times past a solitary ripe grape fell from a vine onto the dusty ground and there, following a period of being nicely warmed by autumn sunshine (and following a bit of internal chemistry), it became wine. It did it because that’s what grapes do. All by themselves. Naturally.

CB Insights report Top 20 Reasons Why Startups Fail

From lack of product-market fit to disharmony on the team, CB Insights breaks down the top 20 reasons for startup failure by analyzing 101 startup failure post-mortems.

Advantedge Commercial Finance, a provider of invoice finance to UK based SMEs, has acquired Newport-based Henry Howard Cashflow Finance.

Since November 2016, when Mobeus provided £8.7 million to back its management buyout, Advantedge has increased its regional presence from two offices to five: in the Thames Valley, the Midlands, Glasgow, Manchester and now Newport.

Seatfrog, the technology company revolutionising rail and airline upgrades through live bidding for seats on mobile right up to departure, has announced a £4.5 million Series A funding round, led by one of Europe’s most successful Venture Capital firms, Octopus Ventures.

Bean-to-bar chocolate company MIA is celebrating after exceeding its crowdfunding target of £100,000 on the Seedrs platform.  

Kernel Capital has led an investment into Datactics Limited, a Belfast-based provider of RegTech solutions for the banking and financial services sector. Full details of the investment round, which includes investment from the Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Growth Fund (NI), have not been disclosed. 

PwC and CB Insights' Q2 2018 MoneyTree report highlights the latest trends in venture capital funding globally.

SaleCycle, a high-growth behavioural marketing business whose clients include Tommy Hilfiger and Nike, has received an £11.5m investment from BGF to further scale its operations.

Founded in 2011 by Dominic Edmunds, SaleCycle helps online retailers to increase conversion rates, recover abandoned sales, gain visitor insights and drive customer loyalty through its sophisticated software platform and email remarketing service. Since its inception the business has grown rapidly, delivering £15m in sales to a global blue-chip customer base across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

NVM Private Equity has invested £3.1 million of growth capital into Midlands-based Clarilis, a high-growth technology business providing drafting automation solutions to the legal industry.

Movebubble, London’s number one property rental platform, has raised just under £825,000 in funding, thanks to its successful equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs.

Matthew Rowell, Head of Partnerships at SeedLegals offers some timely advice to companies looking to raise finance before the summer holidays.

Founder frustrations are high in August: You want to drive their business forward - but with your customers, investors and often team otherwise indisposed - it’s incredibly hard work.

Christian Elmes, Enterprise Investment Partners, makes the case for diversifying your investment portfolio.