A Stamford entrepreneur who aims to disrupt the dry-cleaning industry by installing automated drop-off points in shopping centres and railway stations has raised £550,000.

Louis Taylor has been appointed CEO of the British Business Bank, the UK’s economic development bank, and will take up the role from 1 October. Louis Taylor is currently CEO of UK Export Finance, the UK government's export credit agency.

Smile Plastics raised £980k from Green Angel Syndicate members, the GAS Climate Change Fund, the British Business Investments funds committed to GAS through its Regional Angels Programme, the Angel CoFund and a number of other private investors. 

Smile Plastics has two main goals: to create the most beautiful circular plastics in the world out of 100% recycled and 100% recyclable materials and to challenge ideas about “waste” and the system that creates it. 

UK-based space services startup, Gravitilab, is on a mission to make conducting research in space more accessible and affordable. The company has just secured a £100k investment from British Design Fund.

Stamp Free Limited, the digital postage company, has raised £600k in an oversubscribed funding round as the business progresses towards the commercial launch of its global award-winning AI phone-based alternative to traditional mailing and returns. 

Investment was led by existing investors Silicon Valley-based R42 Group and Cambridge Angels along with other technology angel investors from the UK, US and Australia. 

Kapaga, the UK-based cross-border payment platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), has announced a £1.5m funding round led by Target Global and with participation from well-known angel investors in the fintech space, Chris Adelsbach, Andreas Mihalovits, and Mark Ransford.

GivePenny Technologies, a West Midlands company which has developed a unique charity fundraising platform has  secured £1.25m in investment to help further enhance its technology and expand its client base.

Aramune Technologies has raised £800,000 of new equity funding to develop an industrial-scale process for manufacturing its first product.

DNA-based biodiversity monitoring company NatureMetrics has raised $15m in new funding. The investment is led by urban sustainability-focused VC fund 2150 with participation from Ananda Impact Ventures, SWEN Capital Partners’ Blue Ocean and BNP Paribas Solar Impulse Venture Fund, and follow-on from Systemiq Capital and Green Angels Syndicate.

Flexa Careers, the platform bringing transparency to the hiring market, has raised a £2.3m ($2.9m/€2.7m) Seed Round to expand their global reach. The round was led by Ada Ventures and joined by Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, angel syndicate HERmesa, and a wide group of angel investors.

Flexa has flipped the hiring process on its head; enabling companies to showcase what their working environments offer when it comes to flexibility and benefits, and be discovered by candidates who want to know up-front how the company operates and get a transparent look at what its working policies are before applying for a role. 

SFC Capital has made a new investment in Blue Skies Space Ltd to further accelerate its first satellite development, Twinkle, with manufacturers ABB and Airbus, preparing the company for its Series A funding round.