Do you know the megatrends that will change the world in the next 50 years? Shane Wall, CTO of HP, recently shared them at an event at the London School of Economics. Let’s see what you think of the year 2050. Are you ready to enter the time machine?

Concentra Analytics, the creator of Software as a Service (“SaaS”) data solutions used to visualise, model and track business operations, today announced the completion of a £41 million growth equity investment led by One Peak Partners, with participation from co-investors Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, Joseph Schull, Connected Capital, as well as existing shareholder, City Securities. The investment will enable Concentra to extend its international footprint and increase investment in its SaaS solutions, providing its clients with a real-time, data-driven ability to analyse and re-engineer their operations. Concentra’s flagship product, OrgVue, brings together organisational data held across different systems, making it possible for enterprises to understand, design and deliver more effective and efficient operating models.

Family business owners are more innovative than owners of non-family businesses but are restricted by limited financial resources, says Dr Roberto Flören, Professor of Family Business at Nyenrode Business Universiteit.

The first spinout company set to emerge from the University of the West of Scotland has closed its seed investment round, raising £1.5 million.

novosound, the winner of the 2017 Converge Challenge, has developed and patented a ground-breaking technique to mass-manufacture printable ultrasound sensors. The revolutionary method overcomes the limitations of existing technology, improving a manufacturing process, which hasn’t majorly changed in more than 40 years.

Mike Bristow, business strategy consultant, formerly of strategy consultancies OC&C, Roland Berger and Hambalt, has been appointed CEO of leading specialist property development peer-to-peer lender, CrowdProperty.

He co-founded CrowdProperty and has been on the Board as a Non-Executive Director since it was established in 2013 and he takes up management of the company from fellow co-founder, Simon Zutshi, who now becomes Chairman.

Kuber Ventures, the fund investment platform offering simplified access to EIS/SEIS portfolios and funds today announces the addition of three new high growth funds to the platform. The addition of the growth funds follows last year’s budget announcement which doubled the investment limit. It also saw the rules tightened to prevent investment in low-risk companies, rather than the innovative, high growth companies the scheme was designed for.

Hazy, the data anonymisation software developer formerly known as Anon AI, has won M12’s Innovate AI award, receiving a $1million investment from M12 in partnership with Notion.

Cavendish Corporate Finance has appointed Derek Zissman, a senior corporate finance professional, as a partner and Head of the Cavendish Exit Review practice. Derek brings over 40 years’ experience of M&A advisory to Cavendish and his appointment further strengthens the firm’s sell-side advisory service. It will enable Cavendish to better advise its clients across all aspects of their business’ exit process and take advantage of emerging opportunities in today’s very active M&A markets.

Cryptocurrency volatility should be treated like any financial market turbulence, and many investors will successfully take advantage of it, affirms the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial services organisations.

Foresight Group has invested £1.58 million into MIRICO Limited from the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund. 

MIRICO is based in Harwell Oxford, Didcot, where it develops, manufactures and deploys unique spectrometer products for highly precise, accurate and sensitive gas analysis.

MIRICO’s patent-protected proprietary technology is called Laser Dispersion Spectroscopy (“LDS”) and the Company is now commercialising two new analytical instruments. Gas analysis is required in many industrial applications such as monitoring natural gas throughout the oil and gas value chain or monitoring low level contaminants in specialised industrial processes. The dominant approach to gas analysis is currently laser absorption spectroscopy, a technique that is relatively slow and highly susceptible to environmental interference from non-target gases, dust and water vapour.

Hutchinson Networks, an Edinburgh-based global technology business, has received a £2.2m growth capital investment from funds advised by YFM Equity Partners, the private equity fund manager.

 Hutchinson Networks Limited is a leading provider of multi-vendor IT and network solutions to national and international clients offering advanced infrastructure services to a rapidly expanding client base, including a major UK airport, an international consumer brand, several Fortune 100 companies and a global retail technology brand.

Nestlé Purina PetCare has acquired a majority stake in Tails.com, a direct-to-consumer, tailor-made dog nutrition business based in the UK. With the rapid growth of personalised pet nutrition, as well as subscription services, Nestlé Purina’s shareholding in this digital first business offers significant growth opportunities for both companies.