Foresight sees £65m growth in North West

Foresight, the venture capital firm, has closed its third regional private equity fund with a first raise of £65m. The latest regional fund will target investments into SMEs valued up to £30m in North West England, North Wales and beyond. Greater Manchester Pension Fund is the cornerstone investor, alongside Clwyd Pension Fund and Merseyside Pension Fund.

Tiger Global puts £21m bet on Stake

Stake, the commission-free platform for trading US stocks, has raised $30m (£21m) from Tiger Global and partners of DST Global to fuel its expansion into continental Europe. In the past year, Stake has grown its total customer base more than six times over, and launched in the UK, Brazil and New Zealand with more than 330,000 customers globally.

Overture births £11m Series B round

Overture Life, the embryology start-up, has raised $15m (£10.6m) Series B, bringing its fundraising total to $37m as it tries to democratise in-vitro fertilisation. Octopus Ventures led the round, with GV (Google Ventures) also participating alongside existing investors Khosla Ventures, Felicis Ventures and Marc Benioff.

Origin.Bio hacks £11m funding round

Origin.Bio, the synthetic ingredients company, has closed a $15m (£10.6m) funding round led by EQT Ventures. Existing investor BlueYard Capital also participated in the round along with new investors including Taavet Hinrikus and Sten Tamkivi, Acequia Capital, Inventures and Charlie Songhurst.

Most products today – including plastic, medicine, clothing, and personal care products – stem from petrochemicals. Origin.Bio merges engineering with biology, enabling bioengineers to use DNA to hack entirely new ingredients for use in products.

Bella & Duke scarfs £7m investment round

Scotland-based pet food brand Bella & Duke has closed a £7m funding round through investors including BGF, Mobeus and existing shareholders. Bella & Duke generated revenues of £11m in its last financial year and delivers over two million pet meals each month across Britain.

Vev builds £4m for digital content creator

And EQT Ventures has led an €5m (£4.3m) funding round for Vev, a visual editor for professional web developers, designers and content creators for interactive websites and digital content. Existing investors Sagene Tech Ventures and Skyfall Ventures also participated in the round. Vev’s digital content builder is already used by clients including Netflix and The Economist.

Cook My Grub dines out on £750,000 investment

Cook My Grub, the marketplace for home chefs who sell to local diners, has raised over £750,000 through Crowdcube in just four weeks, exceeding its initial fundraising target by 150 per cent.

Angels spread wings over clean energy start-up

eleXsysEnergy has raised £640,000 through Angel Investment Networrk to help turn large commercial and industrial rooftops into grid-connected solar power plants. IKEA Adelaide is using the technology to help it become 100 per cent renewable powered by 2025. The angel investment was part of a larger £5m fundraise, including a £3.55m Series A round.

More Deals of the Week

Deals of the week May 17 to May 21 – a GrowthBusiness roundup