Seneca’s Business Development Director, Ian Battersby gives his view on the EIS market in the run up to tax year end, the potential impact of changes announced in the Budget and the proposals outlined in the much awaited Patient Capital Review.

As part of its Half Year Results, Mercia Technologies PLC has announced the first closing of EV Growth II with initial commitments totalling £45.1million. The Fund has closed with commitments from institutions and private individuals, including three Mercia Fund Managers team members, who will be responsible for managing the new fund, and who were instrumental in managing its successful predecessor fund, EVG I.

A UK games studio which has developed a unique real-time football game has closed a £600,000 funding round from Mercia Fund Managers and a leading global mobile games developer.

UFL is the first real-time fantasy soccer game that allows fans worldwide to connect simultaneously to a live soccer match. Unlike typical fantasy games, the action happens as the match unfolds and every player’s move on the pitch is mirrored in a real-time game. Launched in 2016, it now has over 1 million registered users worldwide.

Governments wanting to build their own “Silicon Valley” may end up harming their homegrown VC industry, says Dr Arthur Krebbers.

Who are the UK's Top 100 fastest-growing businesses?

Find out in this new report from SyndicateRoom Top 100: Britain’s Fastest-Growing Businesses

Senseye Limited, the leader in predictive maintenance software, today announced it has raised £3.5 million at the close of a Series A funding round led by MMC Ventures, a venture capital fund investing in early stage, high growth companies. The round was also supported by existing investors Breed Reply, IQ Capital and Momenta Partners.

Maven Capital Partners has today announced its profitable exit from SPS (EU) Holdings Limited, delivering a 3x return on funds invested in 2014. This transaction is the second profitable exit for Maven investors in as many months, following the sale of Crawford Scientific for 4.7x the initial investment in October.

Discngine, a software company specializing in applications for life sciences research, today announces a Series A financing round of €1.1 million ($1.3M), received from Extens Développement e-Santé. The funds raised will allow Discngine to move forward with its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution offering for the life sciences industry, a model that is not, as yet, widely used in this sector.

Foresight Group has invested £3m of growth capital into 200 Degrees a Nottingham-based specialty coffee roaster with six coffee shops across the UK and a thriving wholesale business.

The P2PFA today announced revisions to the industry standards it sets for peer-to-peer lending platforms. The new Operating Principles, which will come fully into force next April, include:

• enhancements to the full and comparable disclosure of bad debt and likely returns for investors;
• a ban on platforms borrowing or raising funds through their own platforms;
• robust credit risk management policy and practice;

Mercia Technologies PLC has appointed Dr Alistair Forbes as head of its Software & the Internet sector to lead its specialist investment team, which focuses on areas including artificial intelligence, cyber security, advertising technology and software as a service (SAAS).

Ian Martin, Editor of Reaction, comments on the rise of rough sleepers in Britains major cities

Anyone with their eyes open who works in or visits one of Britain’s largest cities will have noticed the rise in rough sleeping in recent years. Near the National Portrait Gallery, in the heart of the capital’s theatre land, and on busy Tottenham Court Road, or in the centre of Manchester, or in numerous other cities, it is ever more apparent. 

https://reaction.life/rough-sleeping-scandal-shames-britain-dooms-tories/