Digital marketing veteran Chris Underhill has been appointed as chair of Leeds-based Force24 following a £4.8m investment backed by private equity firm YFM Equity Partners.

Personio, the all-in-one HR platform has completed $125 million of new and preemptive Series D funding in an investment round that values the business at $1.7 billion.

The new funding will accelerate the further international expansion of the software company, supporting its ambition of becoming Europe’s leading HR platform for SMEs. It follows a strong year of growth for the business in 2020,which saw it double revenues despite adverse market conditions.

Liberis, a leading global embedded business finance platform, has secured £70m in financing from long-term partners British Business Investments,  Paragon Bank, BCI Europe, as well as financing and venture debt from new partner Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). This brings Liberis’ total funds raised to £200m total, including over £50m in equity funding. The new funds will be used to fuel company growth, launch new products and markets, and provide additional customer financing solutions.

Solihull-based executive recruitment firm, Quantum Group Solutions Limited, has secured its first round of investment, totalling £730,000 from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) through venture capital firm, Midven.

Three start-up industry experts have joined together to launch Connectd, a new smart-matching platform for start-ups, investors and Non-Executive Directors (NEDs). The matchmaking subscription service enables start-ups to gain immediate access to relevant investors, advisors and experts, and removes any class, race and location bias.

Entrepreneur Alicia Navarro has closed a £1.2 million pre-seed investment round to fund her latest venture, Flown, a new online platform that aims to help knowledge workers achieve “deep work”. By matching them with inspiring properties setup for productive and ergonomic remote work,  as well as providing an array of interactive tools and resources, Flown will provide the ideal mental and physical spaces required for knowledge workers to get away from their day-to-day work environments to do their most productive and creative work.

Whiterock Finance has made its first ever equity investment by backing specialist recruitment business Artemis Human Capital.

The Belfast-based investment team, comprising Paul Millar, Rhona Barbour, David McCurley and Neil McCabe, has taken a minority stake in Artemis for an undisclosed sum and will also work with the business in an advisory capacity.

Mills & Reeve advises on £23m acquisition by Delta Financial Systems. The deal broadens both Delta and Bravura’s product and services to their client bases and enhance customer experience.

Flexa, a job and employer brand platform, has successfully raised £250,000 from a consortium of international and domestic investors, including renowned angel investors Simon Franks and Douglas Choi. The round is being led by venture capital firm, QVentures. The funds will be used to support the scaling-up of Flexa’s flexible working platform.

Fintech business lender MarketFinance has been awarded a £10m grant from the Capability and Innovation Fund (CIF), announced by Banking Competition Remedies Ltd (BCR). The grant will be used to bring more choice and competition to the business lending industry

MarketFinance, a household name in the UK business community, has provided over £3b in invoice finance and business loans to thousands of UK businesses since 2011. They were accredited to lend under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), providing term loans from £50,001 to £150,000 and revolving credit facilities from £50,001 to £5 million to UK SMEs.

The business failures in key sectors since the UK locked down in March has created a domino effect of debt amounting to nearly £800m of invoices outstanding within their supply chain at the point of administration, according to corporate distress data analysts Red Flag Alert. 

With an average individual debt of £28,501, the research found there are a further 227 businesses across the bars and restaurants, construction, retail, logistics and real estate sectors, which are at very high risk of failure.  

Bounce Back loans, the most popular HM Treasury support measure, used by SMEs are running low, finds the latest insights [1] from fintech business lender MarketFinance. These SMEs are aware they can get more HM Treasury support by applying for larger loans through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) but did not know the deadline was end of this month.