A surge in deal activity over the next few months is being predicted by private equity house WestBridge, as business owners seek to realise and de-risk their assets ahead of widely anticipated changes to the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) regime in the next budget.

Tech Nation, the growth platform for tech companies and leaders, has appointed Jo Johnson as a new Board Director.

NatWest and ITV have today announced the launch of a new competition where three of the UK’s brightest small businesses will win their own TV advert worth £150,000, produced by acclaimed London-based advertising agency Pablo, with guaranteed, tailored airtime on ITV and through NatWest’s owned channels.

GC Angels’ Jess Jackson has joined 28 of the North’s most high-profile female investors from Northern Investment firms and angel groups to launch a new investment collective designed to break down the barriers faced by female-led businesses when securing investment and drive the number of female investors in the North.

Tech Nation, the growth platform for tech companies and leaders, announces the 32 companies that have been selected to join the Applied AI Growth programme and reveals new data that shows the UK leads Europe for AI investment. 

Praetura Group, the Manchester-based debt and equity capital provider to Northern SMEs, has announced a series of organisational and board changes.

The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm focused on the smaller end of the middle market, announced its Riverside Acceleration Capital (RAC) team has added two members in Cologne, Germany.

AI chatbot specialists, We Build Bots, has set its sights on global growth with the announcement that international technology evangelist, Patrick Hosch, has been appointed as chief commercial officer.

Antler has welcomed James Anderson to its advisory board. James is the co-manager of the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust at Baillie Gifford. 

BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor in growing businesses, has appointed Liam Pursall as an investor and Georgie Stratton in direct origination as part of its growing team based in the South West and Wales.

Liam joins from Foundation Investment Partners, where he spent four years focusing on UK buy-outs with an enterprise value of between £5 million and £50 million. Prior to this, Liam spent five years in the Corporate Finance team at EY.

Downing Ventures has appointed Joe Raffa as a Venture Partner as it scales up for global expansion and sector specialization. Joe is an investor and executive with extensive expertise in early stage and Fortune 100 technology companies bringing with him a wealth of knowledge to the Downing team and portfolio companies, as Downing Ventures continues to increase value added across the board.

BioAccelerate, AberInnovation’s flagship accelerator programme for early-stage businesses and start-ups, across the UK, is back for its third year and seeking participants for its next cohort.  Applications are now open, and close on October 14.