Three organisations are joining forces to run an industry-wide initiative which will build the first clear picture of the representation of women, and diversity more broadly, in the pipelines of UK venture capital firms, and how this corresponds to the deals that get done.

Foresight Group has announced the investment of £2.1 million into Oxford Space Systems Limited from the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund.

Albion Capital, the leading independent investment manager, has led a £6.5 million Series A investment round in PayAsUGym (‘PAUG’), the online fitness marketplace, alongside existing co-investor Concentric and individual angels. The investment will be used to build the team, further enhance the product, grow the gym network and overall user base.

Loans totaling £100,000 from the Development Bank of Wales and HSBC will enable the family-run business Coastline Coaches to upgrade its depot in Fford Las, Rhyl to accommodate the new vehicles and further develop its private hire, taxi and coach tour services. Coastline Coaches can also provide executive cars for corporate and business travel.

Foresight Group has invested £3 million into Altrincham-based, DA Languages Limited.

CoInvestor, the platform digitising alternative asset transactions for fund managers, investors and advisers, has appointed Rob Ferguson as its Chief Operating Officer amid increasing demand for its innovative digital solutions. The role will strengthen the focus on innovation and delivering the best service to CoInvestor’s customers.

Digital healthcare provider MedicSpot has received investment from a member of Henley Business Angels as part of the SEIS qualifying fund raise. In total MedicSpot is raising £1m in funding and has rapidly closed its oversubscribed £150k SEIS round.

Draper Esprit  has invested  £10m investment in Aircall, a French cloud-based call centre software business.

The London-headquartered venture capital firm led on a Series B funding round that brought Aircall’s total investment to around £30m to date.

Finstock Capital has recently launched a bridging product to help fix the funding gap for businesses waiting for their research and development (R&D) tax claim to be paid.

Since 2016, female entrepreneurs received 44 pence in funding for every £1 awarded to men, according to data from small business and startup finance provider Access Commercial Finance.

Leading creative industries specialist, Edge Investments, is pleased to announce it has invested in a significant shareholding in Hoop, a fast-growing marketplace which helps families find and book organised local activities for children and the organisers of those activities to increase their profitability.

Strabens Hall, the award winning independent wealth advisory boutique, has appointed Adam Benskin as CEO, John Halley as Head of Legal, Financial and Compliance and Alistair Peel as Head of Investor Services as part of a reorganisation of the senior management team. This gives the firm a stronger structure to further scale the business, accelerate Strabens Hall’s ambitious growth strategy as well as enhance the services it offers to its expanding international client base.