Palatine Private Equity has completed the maiden investment from its fourth buyout fund (Fund IV) with the acquisition of a majority shareholding in NRG Fleet Services, a fast-growing provider of specialist services to the commercial vehicle sector.

Headquartered in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and operating 10 national technical centres, NRG has annual revenues of £90m and employs 280 people. It comprises two divisions, Riverside Truck Rental and Direct Tyre Management.

Oakham-based machinery and vehicle dealer, C&M Retail Group, is embarking on a major expansion programme which will create up to 20 new jobs after agreeing a funding deal to enable the development of a purpose-built industrial and business hub, as well as the launch of a new vehicle sales company.

A Northern Ireland start-up which appeared on TV's Dragons' Den earlier this year has successfully closed a £350,000 funding round with local business angels to bring its innovative new insulated cable clip to market.

Gray's Clip, run by Lisburn-based co-founders Davy and Julie Gray, secured £250,000 of investment from a group of nine private investors through the Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN) and a further £100,000 from Co-Fund NI, part of Invest Northern Ireland's Access to Finance portfolio.

Yotta Capital Partners, the first French private equity team dedicated to Industry 4.0, announces the completion of the first closing of the Yotta Smart Industry fund at €101 million at the end of July, exceeding its initial objective. The fund is now targeting a final amount in excess of €120 million. Yotta Smart Industry will focus on French industrial SMEs to assist them in their transition towards the 4^th Industrial Revolution megatrend, becoming more competitive, more international and more carbon efficient.

Circularity Capital has continued to build its innovative portfolio of European growth-stage businesses enabling the circular economy, leading a growth funding round in Shark Solutions, the global leader in advanced recycled PVB products.

Symetrica, a manufacturer of radiation detection products for military and homeland security applications, has closed a £4 million funding round. The round was led by Parkwalk, the leading investor in startups spun out of UK universities – with participation from other existing Investors and the management team - and includes a provision for a further £2 million commitment from a specialist defence and security investor.

ThingTrax, a provider of smart technology solutions for the manufacturing industry, has announced the close of a $1m seed round led by SuperSeed, investing alongside industrial specialist Sumaria. Founded in 2015, the company has been working with manufacturers around the world to turn their unconnected factories into smart manufacturing hubs. Using cloud computing, IoT, AI, and most recently computer vision, to connect machines, workers, and robotics to improve efficiency.

Oxford Flow, the flow control equipment specialist, has raised £8.45m to fuel the company’s expansion across the utility and industrials markets, and oil and gas product development.

The funding has been secured from eight parties, with existing investors Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI), Parkwalk, Oxford Investment Consultants and the University of Oxford contributing a total of £5.6m. The remaining amount is made up by GF Piping Systems, a division of Georg Fischer, a Swiss leader in fluid transfer equipment, individual investor Nick Harbinson and companies associated with GK Goh, the Singapore-based investment group.

Industrial services and waste management firm, Harpers Environmental, has secured £2 million of funding from Independent Growth Finance (IGF). This invoice discounting facility is central to the company’s refinance for growth.

The company focuses on the extraction, treatment and appropriate disposal of waste, based out of two sites in York and Teesside. It serves clients across a range of critical sectors including food processing, manufacturing, petrochemicals and utilities. Clients include Yorkshire Water, Karro Foods, Sabic/lndaver and Biffa.

A Carmarthen carpenter has led his management team to complete a multi-million management buy-out of the double glazing company that he set-up in 1989. 

YFM has completed a significant investment in West Midlands-based Innovative Safety Systems (ISS), a commercial vehicle safety specialist. This represents the final new investment from YFM’s Buyout Fund I, with the second fund having already announced a first close.  

ISS was founded in 2009 by CEO Gavin Thoday and the business has grown rapidly in recent years through its commitment to product innovation, exceptional customer service and expertise in the waste management sector where it is a market leader.