Quantexa crunches £111m in Series D funding

Quantexa, the AI-driven data analytics platform, has raised $153m (£111m) in a Series D round led by Warburg Pincus. Existing investors Dawn Capital, AlbionVC, Evolution Equity Partners (a specialist cybersecurity VC), HSBC, ABN AMRO Ventures and British Patient Capital also participated. The growth funding round values Quantexa at between $800m and $900m.

Tide comes in with £72m Series C round

Tide, the online business services provider, has raised $100m (£72m) in Series C funding led by Apax Digital Fund. The Series C round was oversubscribed, valuing Tide at over $650m. Existing investors Anthemis, Augmentum, Jigsaw, Local Globe/Latitude, SBI and SpeedInvest also participated in the round. Tide services around 6 per cent of UK businesses with over 400,000 business accounts.

Heart Aerospace takes off with £25m Series A round

Heart Aerospace, the Swedish electric plane manufacturer, has closed a $35m (£25m) Series A round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, United Airlines and Mesa Air Group. In addition, Heart’s seed investors EQT Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital, have participated in the round. As part of the investments, United and Mesa have together placed purchase orders for 200 of Heart’s 19-seateer electric airplanes, the ES-19.

Collective Benefits taps £6m funding round

London-based Collective Benefits, the insurtech for freelancers and contractors, has raised a £6m round led by Silicon Velley venture fund NFX. Existing investors Stride VC, Delin Ventures, Insurtech Gateway and executives from Uber, Deliveroo and Urban also participated. As part of the investment, NFX general partner Pete Flint, one of the founding team of lastminute.com will join the board. The investment from NFX comes a year after Collective raised a £3.3m seed round, taking the total raised since it was founded to just under £10m.

WeVee charges up with £5m seed round

WeVee, the electric vehicle leasing platform, has closed $7m (£5m) in seed funding raised through angel investors, industry leaders and tech entrepreneurs. The platform will launch in Germany later this year, followed by France, Italy and Spain in 2022.

Reacta positive over £2.9m funding round

Reacta Biotech, the food allergy diagnostic company, has raised £2.9m in a round led by Praetura Ventures alongside existing shareholders including the Development Bank of Wales and Perscitus. Acceleris Capital brokered the deal.

Bower takes delivery of a £2.1m seed round

Bower Collective, the online retail platform for sustainable homeware and personal care products, has raised £2.1m in seed funding. Oxford Capital and Doehler Ventures led the round alongside angel investors. Bower’s subscribers are delivered a range of products supplied in refill packages; customers return the empty packages in pre-paid envelopes to Bower for reuse and recycling, ensuring zero plastic waste in their supply chain. The eco-friendly subscription service currently has 60,000 members.

Bamboo grows with £1.1m of early-stage funding

Bamboo Auctions, the online auction technology solution, has raised £1.1m through RO Capital Partners and the Cass Enterprise Fund. The technology provides back-end solutions for estate agents and auction houses. Over 1,000 properties worth £200m have been sold using Bamboo’s platform in the last 12 months.

BEPPS munches on £400,000 early-stage round

BEPPS, an award-winning range of black eyed pea-based puff snacks, has raised £400,000 from early-stage venture capital investor Ascension Ventures and angel investors including Mumsnet co-founder Carrie Longton and Giles Brook, who has previously worked with brands Vita Coco, Urban Fruit and Innocent drinks.

Further reading

Deals of the week July 5 to July 9 – a GrowthBusiness roundup