The latest research from eFront, the leading financial software and solutions provider dedicated to Alternative Investments, shows that reaching the hurdle rate 

A fast growing manufacturing firm based in Merseyside has received an initial investment of £7.5m from BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor in growing businesses, to support its expansion. This deal marks BGF’s commitment of a total of £2 billion into UK and Irish SMEs, including £280m for companies based in the North West. 

The Qube the capital’s coworking studio complex for creatives has announced a £1.9m funding round led by the Angel CoFund, UK music industry veterans AEI Group, and a strategic cohort of angel investors including co-founder of Mixcloud, Nikhil Shah, and ex-MD and co-founder of Investec, Bernard Kantor. The funding will be used to develop their 16,000 square foot flagship site ahead of its launch.

Master of Business Administration (MBA) and accountancy are the top qualifications among the UK’s CEOs, according to the annual Robert Half FTSE 100 CEO Tracker.

MBA graduates are leading more of Britain’s top businesses than any other qualification, accounting for 25% of FTSE 100 CEOs, the highest proportion since 2016.  This was followed by Chartered Accountants, who made up 20% of FTSE 100 CEOs, up from 19% in both 2017 and 2018.

Beauhurst identifies the UK’s top Wearables startups, highlighting key sector trends and patterns.

Green Angel Syndicate has backed NatureMetrics, a pioneer in sampling, sequencing and analysing Environmental DNA. eDNA is left behind in the environment by the creatures which pass through it – in water, soil, or droppings, for example.

NatureMetrics can extract minute quantities of eDNA from samples of water, sediment or soil, and identify the species that are present. This technology can be used to identify protected species, such as great crested newts, damaging invasive species such as zebra mussels, and for Environmental Impact Assessments. 

Aergo, a company that has developed a responsive posture support system which empowers wheelchair users, ahas completed an equity funding round with the help of ClearlySo, Europe’s leading impact investment bank. The funding will go towards expanding the team and product manufacturing and piloting.

Envestors, the fintech fundraising company, has announced its community of connected sophisticated investors has grown to 11,000.  Envestors’ ‘Network of Networks’ is a digital community that connects investment networks from across the UK, India, EMEA and China – providing a single access point for scale-ups raising funds.

The new board of the Greater London investment Fund (GLIF), who will support the Mayor’s vision to grow and support the SME ecosystem in the capital, has been announced.

The Chairman of the newly-launched GLIF will be serial entrepreneur, investor and Funding London board member David Prais. Joining David will be Maggie Rodriguez-Piza, CEO of Funding London, and Pauline Barnett, philanthropist, entrepreneur and member of Funding London board.

Maven Capital Partners has completed a £2.5 million investment to support the continued growth of pioneering software developer Filtered Technologies Limited.

Filtered Technologies Limited provides advanced, AI-driven learning and development software to the corporate market, as well as training content to the corporate and retail markets. Maven’s investment will help to accelerate Filtered’s continued technological innovation and further strengthen its highly regarded customer success and sales teams as the business grows.

Non-profit organisation Diversity VC has published ‘Diversity in UK Venture Capital 2019’, a report which analyses the gender, ethnic, education, and career backgrounds of venture capital professionals in the United Kingdom. The report is authored by Diversity VC, and sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank.

Beauhurst has analysed the North / South regional divide in the UK in terms of high-growth company distribution and allocation of equity funding and innovation grants across England to find out just how profound it is.