MEIF Maven Debt Finance has provided Automotive MacIiver Limited, the designer of the only multiple car seats for children with a £150,000 debt funding package. The funding will enable the business to invest in its product range, improving efficiencies in its batch manufacturing process, increase stock to meet growing sales and support the appointment of two new business development roles in the Birmingham area.

Multimac, invented by Automotive Macliver, is a unique, multi-child car seat which delivers a completely new concept in child car seat safety. By allowing three to four children to be seated in a row, Multimac removes the dangers associated with a seven-seater vehicle, which places children in the boot space of the car, commonly known as the ‘crumple zone’. The Multimac enables up to four children from 0-12 years to be seated in a row of even the smallest cars and is approved for adult use. 

The Development Bank of Wales has confirmed a £200,000 investment in Dafen based DRL Partitions Limited, a new manufacturing business specialising in movable wall systems.

Established by Managing Director Dennis Lewis, DRL manufactures sliding folding walls, expanding walls, operable walls and glass partitions for the education, health, leisure, community and commercial markets. Opportunities in the Middle East and India mean that the business is already exporting around 10% of products with this figure set to grow to 40% within the next two years.

Maven Capital Partners and the Development Bank of Wales have confirmed a £3 million equity investment in Motokiki, Britain’s first truly independent vehicle tyre comparison website.

The investment of £1.5 million by each funder will support Motokiki’s drive to develop new strategic partners, and fund sales and marketing initiatives to raise awareness of the brand and grow its customer base.

Motokiki’s unique comparison engine will provide a whole of market solution, comparing the price of tyres from a large range of manufacturers and suppliers, providing consumers with an impartial comparison across a wide range of retailers. Existing UK websites that provide tyre pricing information, in practice only list prices based on their own stock.

IW Capital has announced senior loan funding of £1.1 million to assist in the acquisition of Troika Systems Ltd, a global leader and specialist supplier to the printing and packaging industry.

Troika Systems Ltd is a long-established and award-winning UK manufacturer and distributor of 2D and 3D microscope scanning and management systems. Fresh Equity Limited, the Midlands-based SME investor, will be working with the management team to further grow the sector profile of Wiltshire-based Troika and its presence in the global marketplace.

London-based investment fund, Fuel Ventures, has invested £500,000 in Manufacturingsource.com, an on-demand manufacturing platform, which connects design and production engineers with suitable and trusted manufacturers to create custom parts. The site, which has attracted a global network of engineers and manufacturers, allows customers to get instant quotes and place orders, from prototypes to full scale production, on a single platform.

LIGNIA Wood Company, a producer of sustainable modified wood based in Barry, Wales, has secured £3 million funding from London-based investment manager Downing LLP, to support the construction of its first commercial production facility.

The company is helping tackle issues relating to lack of supply of legal and sustainable hardwoods. It is doing this by modifying the properties of sustainably-sourced, plantation-grown softwoods under the brand name LIGNIA®.

Phytoponics, a multi-award winning start-up specialising in the development of hydroponic deep-water culture technology for sustainable agriculture has secured £300,000 in new funding following on from the £200,000 it raised earlier this year. The funding comes from existing investors and a number of new angel investors lead by Smart Anchor Capital.

The company based in Aberystwyth was co-founded by Adam Dixon and Luke Parkin during Adam’s studies at Cardiff University with the aim of delivering highly optimised hydroponic systems designed to produce better crop yields than traditional systems and with the potential to meet global food demand with sustainability in mind. Phytoponic’s patented Hydrosac technology is ready for high volume commercial growing having proven itself by producing two tonnes of high quality tomatoes through a pilot project housed at the company’s glasshouse facility at Aberystwyth University.

Maven Capital Partners has led the £20 million management buyout of UAP Limited, a leading UK supplier and distributor of high specification door and window hardware. The transaction represents Maven’s second investment from its new buyout fund, having earlier this year led an investment in Sc

Camtronics Vale Limited have completed a management buy-out with the support of a £400,000 loan from the Development Bank of Wales. 

Led by Managing Director Paul Macleur, the senior management team have acquired the £2million turnover contract electronics manufacturing business from the parent company PhotonStar LED Plc. Based on Tredegar Business Park, Camtronics offers a full range of electronics manufacturing services and employs 31.

The Q2 2018 SME Growth Tracker, published today, reports that amongst small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the Confidence Index score for their business has deteriorated from -6 earlier this year to -8. Confidence in business conditions has remained negative for all SMEs since the UK general election in 2017, when it was at its lowest point (-11), and has not been positive since March 2017.

Rcapital has backed Scottish shopfitter Havelock, based in Kirkcaldy, Fife.  The deal secures over 300 jobs and the firm’s manufacturing sites, providing financial stability for the business.

A Derbyshire industrial lubricants specialist has secured a £250,000 loan to support its growth from NPIF-Mercia Debt Finance, which is managed by Mercia Fund Managers and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.

Aztec Oils will use the money to fund the first stage of its three-year £1.2m expansion project which will increase storage capacity and turnaround times at its flagship Bolsover site. The company, which manufactures and distributes high-performance lubricants to a wide range of industrial sectors, is targeting 20% growth in the current financial year, having increased turnover by 18% last year.