A new Angel Investor Programme launching in the Great South West is set to play a pivotal role in driving economic growth.

The initiative is aimed at identifying, educating, and supporting new individual investors, fostering a diverse and thriving investment community to drive innovation and help address funding challenges for tech businesses in the region.

Investment Futures 24, a new event taking place on 28 November in London, is set to explore the landscape for investment going into 2024 for innovation-led start-ups, scale-ups and spin-outs.

LawBite, is a fast-growing lawtech enterprise is solving the issue for SMEs in to get access to affordable, good quality legal advice, is seeking £250,000 EIS working capital.

Airponix, an agri-tech company providing systems that allow the growth of high-quality produce with no soil, 95% less water and lower energy consumption, has received investment from four Henley Business Angels members. Their investment contributes towards £255,000 that has already been raised by the Board and current shareholders. 

Fantix, a no-code federated learning infrastructure that allows companies to collaborate on training and building AI models and without sharing user data, has closed its first investment round of $1.6 million. The funds raised will be used to continue the development of the technology.

Shop Circle, a scale-up focused on the creation and acquisition of e-commerce applications and tools which was founded in 2021 in London by entrepreneurs Luca Cartechini and Gian Maria Gramondi, has raised funding from a number of VC and angel investors.

Covesta has launched its new digital platform which enables different angel groups to collaborate on, and easily manage, startup investments.

Developed by angel investors at the 100 plus member Richmond Hill Club (RHC), Covesta solves the problems faced by so many in the sector – such as cumbersome administration, fragmented communications, limited deal access, and lack of transparency.

Artus Air Limited has raised a multi-million-pound investment from BGF and leading venture capital firm Par Equity.

Artus designs and sells game-changing HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) units for buildings, with its innovative, elegant design significantly reducing carbon emissions—both by using fewer materials and being more efficient to operate.

Leading pet health-tech platform company VidiVet Limited has raised a six-figure investment from River Capital managed fund:AI.

Despite the number of women starting businesses in the UK rising to record levels, female-led startups continue to receive just a fraction of the equity investment male-led companies do, according to a new report published by The Entrepreneurs Network in partnership with Barclays. 

FINLAND: Finnish Earth observation company Kuva Space has successfully raised €16.6M in funding. The funding round was led by existing investors Voima Ventures and Nordic Foodtech VC, with Singapore-based Earth VC also participating. The round also includes Finnish private investors through a Finland-based growth funding initiative with Springvest and non-equity funding from Business Finland.

Green Angel Ventures has completed an investment in PES Technologies, which claims to be "The Future of Soil Health Measurement".