The Association of Investment Companies has launched a new guide to investment companies for people who want to learn more about the key concepts of investing, the advantages of using diversified funds to invest, and the specific features of investment companies.

Edinburgh-based angel syndicate, Equity Gap, has reached a £25m investment milestone following its most successful year to date. Leveraging additional funding of over £100m for investee companies since its launch, these investments have helped create over 500 high quality jobs in Scotland, worth around £20m each year to the Scottish economy.

The ‘creator economy,’ decentralized finance, supercharged supply chains, ARM-based chips, and the metaverse virtual playground are among ten key trends that will drive digital transformation in 2022, according to a new report released today by GP Bullhound, a leading technology advisory and investment firm. The firm’s 2022 Technology Predictions Report emphasizes how new software, innovative media platforms, and the latest AI technologies will profoundly influence the workplace, how we bank, how we access healthcare, and how we socialize. 

Despite lingering anxieties about the pandemic and a variety of economic and commercial issues, the majority of SMEs believe it is now imperative to begin building back from the crisis.

US$464.7 billion worth of deals were announced globally during November 2021, 22% more than the value recorded during the same month last year and the highest November total since 1999 according to Refinitiv Deals Intelligence.

The number of acquisitions made by private equity-backed businesses across the UK shown signs of stabilising after a buoyant period, according to Rickitt Mitchell’s Buy and Build Barometer.

An independent evaluation of the British Business Bank Enterprise Capital Funds (ECF) programme has found that the programme is helping to close the early-stage ‘equity gap’ 

Latest British Business Bank market research finds that higher company valuations, combined with strong exit activity in 2020 and 2021, has contributed to a material uplift in venture capital (VC) financial returns since the Bank’s last published report.

According to the Bank’s latest report, UK Venture Capital Financial Returns 2021, UK VC funds with a 2008 to 2013 vintage have seen an increase in their pooled Distributions to Paid In Capital (DPI)[1] multiples of 0.26 points, from 0.79 in 2020 to 1.05 in 2021. Over the same time period, their pooled Total Value to Paid In Capital (TVPI)[2] multiple has increased by 0.28 points, from 1.81 to 2.09 in 2021. UK venture capital has also performed strongly over the longer term, with pooled TVPI multiples above 2 for most two-year periods since 2002.

Following the publication their latest White Paper, Brian Moretta of Hardman & Co delves into the tricky question of how investors should decide what proportion of their investment portfolio should be in angel investments.

British Business Investments has published its Annual Report and Accounts for 2020/21.

More than one in eight (13%) claims for Entrepreneurs’ Relief were for gains of more than £1 million in 2019/20 with the average claimed at just over £627,000, new analysis* from Handelsbanken Wealth Management shows.

A majority (62%) of private capital fund managers in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia will increase the amount of automation and new technologies used to administer their funds over the next five years.