Nigel is responsible for Access to Finance at Innovate UK where he heads the organisation’s support for innovative SMEs in gaining access to business support and private sector funding to accelerate the journey from concept to commercialisation. Through his and others at Innovate UK he has enabled £ms of funding to our best technology companies via grants and matched funding.

FinTech is in fashion as we all know. News that Karadoo Finance and CrowdRating have joined Milamber Ventures and VestDeck at www.fundingforentrepreneurs.co.uk in reaching out to the AngelNews investor community only adds to the proof that the UK's entrepreneurs are solving unexploited opportunities in the sector. 

Last week Innovate UK published an interesting report about what investors look for in scale-ups. 

It's worth a read.  Click Here

INTEREST rates have been increased for the first time in a decade, prompting speculation about whether savers may start seeing better returns.

HMRC released the National Statistics for EIS, SEIS and SITR for October 2017.  Read our Leader Article for more on the EIS Statistics

Download the full report here 

The equity investment market over the past few quarters has been giving us some cause for concern. The amount being invested each quarter was stubbornly staying well below the peak at the beginning of 2016. Last quarter we saw the amount of investment rocket up to an all-time record, but we were worried that this was a flash in the pan – the chance result of a few mega-deals. This quarter nearly matched that amount of investment and saw a record number of deals, both of which are a cause for celebration.

This growth has mostly been fed by investment at the late stage of the market, and especially by mega-deals (£50m+). We view this as a very positive sign that the UK can support the growth of startups beyond the early stage. The long-held view that the UK funding environment does not have the capital to support these deals may no longer apply.

The UK ecosystem (and especially the London tech scene) has produced companies capable drawing the big bucks from further afield than before. The UK is in the spotlight on the international stage right now but so far foreign investors like what they see, regularly getting involved in these mega-deals.

Download full report

Arthur Krebbers considers why the US has such a strong tradition for entrepreneurship.

NVM Private Equity has invested £4 million in Manchester based Hello Soda, a global text and big data analytics business. Having achieved exceptional sales growth in the last year, the investment will enable the company to continue its global growth plans and raise the profile of its unique and high-tech offerings.

78% of private equity investors expect General Partners (GPs) to increase their focus on managing Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)considerations in their portfolios over the next two years, according to a new study by Intertrust, a leading global provider of high-value fund, trust and corporate services.

Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has completed a significant investment in Dotmatics. The company, founded in 2005, is a leading global scientific informatics software provider delivering enterprise solutions tailored to the modern, highly collaborative and mobile scientific environments. 

Crowdfunder.co.uk has announced a new partnership with the Design Council to support and encourage UK businesses to design innovative new products and get them to market.

Seedrs has announced a new programme to introduce financial intermediaries and their clients to the buoyant equity crowdfunding space; offering a cost-effective, digital alternative to the discretionary EIS funds and offline deals that have historically been the first port of call for wealthy individuals looking for exposure to the early stage equity asset class.