Winefi, a UK-based start-up building a nextgeneration wine investment marketplace which successfully raised £400,000 from SFC Capital and other angel investors at the end of 2023, has announced a partnership with Wealt, a wealth management platform that allows investors to manage all of their bankable and non-bankable assets in one place, to offer investors easy and cost-effective access to fine wine as an asset class.

Anima, the next-generation care enablement platform, has completed an oversubscribed $12 million Series A funding round, led by Molten Ventures. Existing investors Hummingbird Ventures, Amino Collective and Y Combinator also participated in the round, and there is new participation from angels including Sidar Sahin, founder of Peak Games.

CryoLogyx, a University of Warwick spinout redefining cell technology through cryopreservation, has closed an oversubscribed seed funding round. The £500,000 investment came from private UK business angels and the Wider Oxford Technology Angel Network (WOTAN), which includes previous investors Oxford Technology Management. 

Science and technology hub Catalyst has has launched its Open Innovation service, designed to help companies of all sizes, across all sectors in Northern Ireland and the northwest region of Ireland to unlock their innovation potential.

Greensphere Capital, a leading specialist investment adviser, has raised £66.3 million in conditional capital for its Gaia Sciences Innovation fund. This will be invested into creating and scaling businesses harnessing innovation and intellectual property from globally renowned British bioscience and environmental science institutes, helping to unlock the commercial potential of cutting-edge UK research to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss

Arrow Risk Management, a specialist managing general agency (MGA) underwriting platform that provides brokers and carriers with real-time data across the insurance lifecycle, has raised £2 million in funding, led by ACF Investors and a range of EIS investors. This investment will be used to fuel expansion plans and further develop its underwriting platform.

Oxford University Innovation Chief Executive Dr Matt Perkins will stand down after seven successful years in post but will remain as a non-Executive Director. Dr Mairi Gibbs, currently Chief Operating Officer at OUI, has been appointed as Interim CEO. 

Investment into tech firms in Northern Ireland has reached its highest level ever in 2023 at £143.2 million, according to the latest data from Catalyst.

Research for Catalyst’s annual NI Deal Tracker report has revealed that £143m was invested across 72 deals, with an average investment of £1.99m.

This compared to a total of £139m in 2022 across 89 deals, with an average investment of £1.6m.

Catalyst has tracked innovation investment in Northern Ireland for its Deal Tracker Report since 2017 and reviews each investment to ensure the accuracy of reporting in the Northern Ireland market.

New data released by  the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB), demonstrates a worrying trend. Private research and development (R&D) investment fell by 0.4% in real terms to £49.9 billion in 2022 compared to 2021. This drop comes at a time when the Government is trying to ramp up R&D investment as its central plan for economic growth.

Solivus, a pioneering developer of lightweight solar solutions has been awarded a 3-year contract for the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation of PV Solar Systems for bp and its customers following a rigorous and competitive commercial bid process. The purpose of the contract is for Solivus’ innovative rooftop solar technology to be included in bp's integrated energy solution portfolio.

Following on from the success of last year’s partnership, Catalyst and Techstart Ventures are teaming up again to offer five inspiring entrepreneurial teams who participate in Catalyst’s Co-Founders programme the chance to win a £10,000 proof of concept grant each.

PORTUGAL: Vawlt Technologies, the visionary start-up in the global long-term data storage market, has raised additional €2.15 million round of funding. 

Vawlt secured a total of three new investors, with Lince Capital as the round leader, and Basinghall and Beta Capital listing as the other two new joiners. This latest funding round also includes participation from Vawlt’s existing investors Armilar Venture Partners and Shilling VC, as well as further investment from two former Cisco and OVHcloud executives.