George Pennock, partner at Four Seasons Ventures looks at the challenges of choosing the right non-executive director for your SME

Fast-growth international web hosting business, Miss Group, has strengthened its senior leadership team with the appointment of a chief marketing officer.

The University of Surrey’s S100 Club, the only established angel investment network in the SETsquared Partnership, announces the appointment of new Chair, Peter Hornsby. 

Following the publication of its Springboard to Recovery report, NatWest has relaunched its Enterprise programme to boost its support for scale-up businesses, as well as climate, fintech, and B-Corp focussed businesses. The free programme is open to applications from all UK SMEs from today, for businesses who will join the programme in June. 

CFE Finance, Investment Banking boutique specialised in niche credit strategies and trade finance, strengthens its team in the United Kingdom with two new senior

YFM Equity Partners (YFM) is continuing to expand its team with the appointment of Tiffany Young as investment manager, based at its London office.

AND Digital, the British tech consultancy accelerating digital delivery for businesses, providing access to tech talent and helping them build products faster, has secured £8 million in follow-on funding from BGF, the UK’s most active growth economy investor. This takes total investment in the business to nearly £20 million over the last 12 months. The new funding will enable AND Digital to help more clients address their digital skills shortage by working with them on immediate challenges, and helping them build their own internal capabilities long-term.

Four companies Contea, Jysk Pension, FinPro and Status have entered a partnership with Polaris to establish North, which will provide independent and full-service financial advisory consulting to companies, organisations and their employees.

Deepbridge Capital, the UK Venture capital investment manager has announced the appointments of Steve Shallcross as Chief Information and Technology Officer and Connor Grimes as Associate Investment Director, Technology.

Halal Angels Network is among the first to penetrate the $5 trillion Halal consumer market and has teamed up FasterCapital to support Technology Startups in the field of AI, Blockchain, Robotics, IoT, Fintech.

Innovate Finance, the industry body representing UK FinTech, has announced that Charlotte Crosswell will step down from her position as Chief Executive Officer in May 2021. 

A former Teacher whose passion for upcycling led her to launch her own business two years ago is set to go full circle, with ambitions to launch dedicated workshops later this year to teach her skills and ideas to fellow creatives.