The Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation of American University of Ras Al Khaimah is gearing up to host innovative technology start ups and SMEs from United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan & Lebanon on January 17-18, 2024 for a two-day conference and exhibition.

Rasha Almasri of Fastercapital looks at the fundamental things entrepreneurs need to know if they want to attract angel investment.

tem. – the startup taking aim at the systemic failings of the energy sector by reimagining how renewable energy is bought and sold – has raised a £2.5 million Seed funding round, led by Europe’s most experienced B2B investor, AlbionVC. Purpose-driven tech fund, Revent as well as leading fintech angel, Christian Deger (Payworks founder and CEO) also participated.

QVentures has invested in Intanify, an AI software platform to help companies identify, categorise and value intangible assets.

QVentures led the pre-seed funding round of £410k with participation from sophisticated angels from firms such as Goldman Sachs, Citadel and Dentons. In addition to this, Intanify has been awarded Innovate UK grants totalling £460k.

Prof Norbert Morawetz and Chris Rees have been appointed as Managing Directors of Henley Business Angels (HBA), succeeding Jurek Sikorski, who has been leading HBA since its establishment in 2016. 

Two in five (40%) small and medium sized enterprises have had to stop or pause an area of their business because of a lack of finance over the last couple of years.

A new University of Birmingham spinout, Delta g, has raised £1.5 million in its pre-seed investment round to fast-track the commercial availability of its ground-breaking quantum technology gravity gradiometry sensors for mapping the underground space.

The funding round was led by Science Creates Ventures, with further investment from Quantum Exponential Group, Newable Ventures, Bristol Private Equity Club, as well as several angel investors, including Hitesh Thakrar and Howard Covington.

Huq Industries, the mobility intelligence company that provides highly-accurate data on footfall and visitor frequency to local councils, retail businesses and real estate developers, has secured £4 million in equity funding led by 24 Haymarket and alongside ACF Investors. The investment will be used to bolster Huq’s position as the foremost provider of mobility research in Europe and facilitate its expansion into new international markets. 

Thalia, a UK-based company whose software platform enables semiconductor businesses to develop new products using existing chip designs, has raised £2.1m to drive the next phase of its growth.

South East Angels, an active and growing angel group based in Brighton, has surpassed £1 million in investments into startups. Since being founded in November 2020 by Kristina Pereckaite, the group has been dedicated to "plugging the gap" in funding outside of London in the South East region.

We have been busy building up our map of angel networks around the world - and it's certainly true that the power of angel investors is spread far and wide.  Our map now includes angel networks across the UK & Ireland, Europe and Africa.  And we are working on adding Asia, North America, Australia to name a few.  So keep watching this space. 

Here is an opportunity to invest in the next generation of social media.

HI-YA, a new platform where users create and share customised celebrity video messages, is fundraising to support its growth ambitions.

With the social media industry growing at 15% a year, click HERE for more info about how you can invest in this next generation platform.