Triple support for eXate with three investors raising £2.3m in seed round
eXate, a London-based data software firm, has announced a £2.3m seed round led by Outward VC, with additional backing from ING Ventures and Triple Point Ventures.
The funding will enable eXate to grow its team, accelerating platform development and expanding into new geographies and verticals.
Triple Point invests in various areas with societal significance including energy efficiency and social housing. It currently manages over £1.8bn of private, institutional and public capital.
ING Ventures is the venture capital arm of ING, a €300m (£270m) fund making minority investments in early-stage companies with disruptive technologies that have strategic relevance to ING.
Outward VC is a venture capital fund that backs European fintech startups and enterprise technology.
WestBridge constructs successful buyout bid
WestBridge, the private equity firm, has supported the senior management team at construction software company Eque2 with £29m in backing to acquire the business from its existing shareholders.
The transaction provides an exit for LDC, which backed a £16m secondary buyout with a minority investment in November 2017, and the current institutional shareholders.
MRMK cut a £4m deal with Foresight
M.R Machine Knives Limited, a Sheffield-based machine knife manufacturer, has raised £4m from Foresight Group LLP.
The investment will drive MRMK’s plans to diversify its customer base by targeting new sectors and geographies as well as expanding its product range.
Foresight is an independent infrastructure and private equity investment manager with over £6.5 bn of assets under management across a number of funds.
bp acquire carbon offset developer with infinite potential
bp has acquired a majority stake in carbon offset developer Finite Carbon which has 50 carbon projects on three million acres in the US, generating more than $500m (£367m) in revenue for landowners.
bp will bring the firm into its in-house business accelerator, bp Launchpad and supply additional investment, which is expected to bolster Finite Carbon’s expansion, including into new geographical markets. This increased support will aid the delivery of a further $1bn (£735.6m) to landowners by 2030.
Lightbulb moment for GE Healthcare with new MedTech accelerator
GE Healthcare, a global MedTech company, and Wayra UK, a corporate liaison company, have announced the launch of GE’s regional programme, the Eddison Accelerator, to support six digital health startups to develop AI applications for healthcare and accelerate the path of new AI solutions for healthcare to market.
GoCardless nears unicorn status after swiping £69m Series F round
GoCardless, a fintech leader in recurring payments, has raised $95m (£69m) in a Series F funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures, bringing its total funding raised to $240m (£170m).
GoCardless will use the funding to accelerate its open banking strategy, combining the latest technology with its global bank debit network. It will also expand its offering into the adjacent e-commerce market to launch a simple and secure way of making bank-to-bank payments as a lower-cost alternative to cards.
Bain Capital Ventures invests from seed to growth rounds in startups across industries, from SaaS, infrastructure software and security to fintech and healthcare to commerce and consumer tech.
Clever acquisition makes Genius Group expansion possible
Genius Group, the global entrepreneur education group, has signed an agreement to acquire UK-based property investors network for $15m (£11m).
Following the acquisition, Genius Group and property investors network will expand its monthly meetings to up to potentially 20,345 cities, using the network to reach more of its students.
Flashpoint raises £36.7m for third fund
Flashpoint Venture Capital, a diversified international technology investment firm that manages venture capital and debt funds with $350m (£257m) assets under management, announced the first close of its third VC fund, raising $50m (£36.7m).
Flashpoint has made investments in 26 tech businesses with 66 follow-ons, and exited eight companies – most notably Shazam to Apple and chess.com to PokerStars.
Flashpoint backs international companies founded in Central and Eastern Europe, Israel, the Baltics, Finland and the CIS, helping them grow beyond their home geographies and into the US and Europe.
Mercia drives deal with Wayroo, investing £250,000 in the platform
Wayroo, a platform that allows car dealerships engaged in vehicle leasing to digitise their operations, has secured a £250,000 investment from the MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, which is managed by Mercia and part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF).
The funding will allow Wayroo to further develop the platform and roll it out across the automotive industry.
Angels pile in to My Bespoke Room investment round
My Bespoke Room, the tech-enabled interior design service, has closed £700,000 angel investment from high-net worth individuals from Angelgroups and Connectdas. This brings total investment in the female-founded business to £2 million since 2014.
The funds will be used to scale My Bespoke Room’s operations and develop a new software as a service (SaaS) platform that will help independent designers to run their business more efficiently.
Further reading
Deals of the Week, December 4 to 11 – Growth Business roundup
