The highly anticipated Athena VC Festival is set to take place on 13 May 2025 at Nexus, University of Leeds. Uniting women venture capitalists, aspiring investors, and industry allies, this landmark event is designed to promote equity, innovation, and collaboration in venture capital.

SFC Capital, the UK’s most active seed-stage investor, has received an additional £10 million commitment from British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank,  through its Regional Angels Programme, which is designed to reduce regional imbalances in access to early-stage equity finance across the UK.

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For more information click this link HERE: 

The content of this promotion has not been approved by an authorised person within the meaning of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Reliance on this promotion for the purpose of engaging in any investment activity may expose an individual to a significant risk of losing all of the property or other assets invested.

Soource, a startup founded in 2024 in Bolzano by former European diving champion Maicol Verzotto together with Nazareno Mario Ciccarello, Silvia Chiarot, Serena Galli and Luca Taddeo, has closed a €1.5 million pre-seed round. The operation was led by 360 Capital, with the participation of EXOR Ventures, Vesper, B Heroes, several Business Angels and the Members of the Investors Club through Simon Fiduciaria .

Lithium Salvage ("Li-Sal") UK Limited has secured significant funding to scale production in a new facility in Sunderland, Tyne & Wear.

The investment round led by Venture Sunderland with additional investment from Sixthwave Ventures, Gaspara Asset Management, NPIF II - Maven Equity Finance, which is managed by Maven as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II ("NPIF II") and business angel investors from across the UK.

BOW, a robotics software company, has secured a combined £4 million seed round investment led by Northern Gritstone, the investment business focused on science and technology in the North of England and chaired by Lord Jim O'Neill. Co-investors include Finance Yorkshire and NPIF II - Praetura Equity Finance, which is managed by Praetura as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II.

Fuel Ventures has invested £2 million in Prosper, a wealth management platform targeting high net worth individuals that is shaking up the way wealth is managed by unlocking access to private markets and leveraging AI.

The investment round which totalled £4 million was led by Fuel Ventures and included participation from existing investors, including England cricket captains Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, Olympians Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Dame Sarah Storey and Tim Pidcock, and footballers Ben White and Serge Gnabry. They are among 60 professional athletes who invested through The Players Fund, a VC firm that also took part in the round. Liverpool footballer Cody Gakpo invested directly.

Financial services AI platofrm Serene has successfully raised £930,000 in pre-seed funding to improve how financial services detect and support customers in vulnerable circumstances. The round was led by Fuel Ventures, with participation from NatWest Group, Oxford Seed Fund, and a group of industry-specific angel investors with deep sector expertise.

Oxford Innovation Finance, the home of OION and Oxford Innovation EIS Growth Fund, has launched its first independent SEIS Growth Fund. This fund targets innovative UK science and technology startups, responding to increased investor demand for SEIS investments and the growing pool of high-quality SEIS opportunities.

Yavrio, a London-based Open Banking fintech, has raised $2.4 million in seed funding to accelerate the fast-growing firm's mission to transform the enterprise resource planning (ERP) space by eradicating error- and fraud-prone CSV file imports.

Fuel Ventures led the round with a $1.9m investment and joins an illustrious group of Yavrio investors which includes Sajid Javid, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Garth Ritchie, former President of Deutsche Bank, alongside Dan Cobley, co-founder of ClearScore and Salary Finance.

Cult Mia, the London-based online fashion marketplace that is redefining luxury retail, has announced a significant milestone following its latest Seed Funding investment round, led by Fuel Ventures, H&M Group Ventures, and other backers. This commitment comes off the back of a year of exceptional growth, with the company's topline tripling as Net Revenue rose by 191% year-over-year, exceeding annual forecasts by 4%.