The award-winning Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme, in partnership with the School for Social Entrepreneurs and jointly funded by Big Lottery Fund, is now open for applications.

Paul Chisnall, Director of Financial Policy and Operations at UK Finance, has responded to the publication of the Green Finance Taskforce report.

Midaxo, the Finnish developer of the award-winning cloud M&A platform, has announced a €12.9m funding round comprising of €10.3m for the company and €2.6m for the existing shareholders – led by major growth investor Idinvest Partners, with the participation of the existing investors Tesi and EOC Capital. This B round brings Midaxo’s total funding to €18.6m and follows a period of sustained and rapid growth.

British tennis champion Andy Murray has backed two early-stage businesses as part of his strategic relationship with 

The AIC Board has announced that, following Sarah Evans’ retirement from the Board in January this year, Susie Farnon has been co-opted as a non-executive Director with effect from 1 April 2018.  (As set out in the AIC’s Articles, Susie will be required to stand for election to the Board at the January 2019 AGM.)

Crowdcube, the world’s first and largest equity crowdfunding platform, has launched a campaign to secure more equity funding deals for startups and growth businesses outside London, in partnership with six leading supporters of regional SMEs. The target is to double equity funding deals in the regions within five years, from the current total of 736 from all providers to 1500

Aster has announced the hiring of Jérome Joaug. Jérome Joaug, a serial entrepreneur, co-founder of Nymbly and Cambridge Nanosystems and digital transformation specialist, has joined the management company's investment team, where he will be involved in selecting and supporting the most promising startups in the areas of mobility, energy and industry.

Britbots, the organisation dedicated to promoting U.K.-based robotics companies, and Sapphire Capital Partners, a specialist manager of tax-efficient funds, has announced that their second British Robotics Seed Fund has attracted a lot of investor interest and has been well subscribed.  

What to make of the KI EIS fund consultation

The Week That Was is released by OFF3R. At OFF3R you can compare investments from leading equity crowdfunding and peer to peer lending sites through to robo-advisors and stocks and shares ISAs.

Amazon's Alexa heads to Wall Street, Tesla takes a knock & the $1.7bn crypto sale

Kuber's Dermot Campbell explains the significance of the EIS opportunity.

There are signs of improved investor confidence in making large investments as higher value venture capital funding (VC) bands gain momentum, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. A recent analysis by the company has revealed that in Q4 2017, the number of VC investments in bands above $10m accounted for 33.5% of activity.