Browne Jacobson’s corporate team has advised on another InsurTech venture capital deal – assisting crowd insurance pioneer Laka on its £1.1m (US $1.5m) seed round. The round was led by Tune Protect Group Berhad (Tune Protect), a financial holding company listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange. Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm 500 Startups also participated, alongside new and existing angel investors from across the insurance industry.

Strabens Hall, the award winning independent wealth advisory boutique, has appointed Adam Benskin as CEO, John Halley as Head of Legal, Financial and Compliance and Alistair Peel as Head of Investor Services as part of a reorganisation of the senior management team. This gives the firm a stronger structure to further scale the business, accelerate Strabens Hall’s ambitious growth strategy as well as enhance the services it offers to its expanding international client base.

East Midlands based The Growth Ladder Group have launched a new and innovative on-line platform to support UK based SME’s to enable sustainable, long-term growth and business development.

A team of students from Imperial College Business School have collaborated to create and launch the School’s first student-led investment fund.

Foresight Group announces a £3 million development capital investment from Foresight Funds into managed services provider Luminet.

Luminet is an award-winning provider of connectivity and managed IT services to businesses and organisations in London.  Founded in 2005, the Company was one of the first to offer commercial wireless broadband solutions to businesses and has grown its client base in London to more than 550 businesses.

Mobius Motors, a Kenya-based automaker who design and manufactures durable, affordable vehicles for Africa, has successfully closed an equity and debt funding round. The lead investor in the equity round, Pan-African Investment Company, is joined by other investors including Playfair Capital, Techstars, Chandaria Industries and VestedWorld.

National law firm Shoosmiths has advised long standing clients Octopus Investments on its multi-million pound funding into office catering company City Pantry.

iContract, the online platform connecting contractors with recruiters, closed its latest round of investment last week - after successfully raising over £800,000. With a pre-money valuation of £3,000,000, the campaign attracted direct investment from long-term strategic investors, as well as 200+ small-sized investors from its own community via the crowdfund platform Seedrs.

Brexit has prompted one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations to launch in Munich.

Beechbrook Capital is supporting further expansion at Leathwaite, the global human capital specialist. The new investment by Beechbrook’s UK SME Credit fund will enable Leathwaite to accelerate its worldwide expansion, launch new business streams and invest in proprietary technology, while also providing equity to develop and attract talent.

Inflexion has completed the buyout of Chambers and Partners, the leading global provider of legal rankings.