Elmtronics looks to power forward after £1.5m investment

Elmtronics, an electric vehicle charging company which is an independent provider of charging points, has raised £1.5m in funding from the Mercia managed North East Venture Fund (NEVF), a fund supported by the European Regional Development Fund, and Ingenious Infrastructure Ventures.

The investment will enable Durham-based company to prepare for the government ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, installing charging ports in underserved areas of the country.

NEVF can invest up to £1m in a single investment and up to £2.7m in total in any one business in Northumberland, Durham and Tyne & Wear. Funding is available to all companies with high growth potential and also pre-start enterprises.

Navenio and Future Planet align for £825,000 deal

Navenio, the UK healthcare scale-up that uses location tracking technology to help increase hospital efficiency, has announced a $1.1m (£825,000) investment from Future Planet Capital.

Future Planet Capital is a global venture capital and impact investment platform. The firm is focused on providing growth capital to leading entrepreneurs and businesses from the world’s top universities and has deployed over $100m (£75m) on behalf of institutional investors to date.

Detected uncover £600,000 seed round

Detected, the world’s first agnostic business verification platform, has completed a £600,000 seed round led by Hong Kong based EmergeVest. Stephen Garland, chief technology and product officer at Trustpilot, has also joined Detected’s advisory board.

Detected will use this capital for product development, continued commercialisation and global expansion in Digital Commerce and RegTech sector.

Opteran receive £2.1m to take natural next step

Opteran, an AI development company, has raised £2.1m in seed funding. The round was led by IQ Capital with Episode1, Join and Seraphim Capital also participating.

Opteran will use the funds to develop its lightweight, low cost silicon-based approach to AI called Natural Intelligence, which it hopes will significantly expand the potential addressable market for autonomous machines and robotics.

Envolve Tech get angel investor involved in £720,000 in funding round

Envolve Tech, a performance marketing AI technology provider, has closed a £720,000 funding round led by a number of private investors from Thorium Technology Investor Network, with additional investment from Angel Academe.

The funds come as Envolve Tech has seen an upsurge in demand since the pandemic made online shopping the primary source of traffic for many retailers.

Angel Academe is a network of female angel investors who invest in female-founded tech start-ups. Since 2014, has invested in over 30 businesses across a range of technology verticals, including finance, health, education and HR.

Audoo catches the ear of investors, seals £5.2m deal

Audoo, a London based music-tech company, has raised £5.2m in an investment round backed by Björn Ulvaeus and existing investors including Tileyard London.

The funding will go towards ensuring artists receive revenue by accurately recognising and reporting music played in public performance areas with the use of its audio meter technology.

Sova fish out £3m investment from Octopus Investments

Sova Assessment, a digital talent assessment software platform, has announced a successful £3m in funding from Octopus Investment’s Development Capital team.

Sova will use the investment to increase its sales, marketing and customer support as well as targeting growth in new territories.

The Development Capital team, part of Octopus Investments, provides growth capital to the UK’s B2B software companies. Its typical initial investment is between £2-10m depending on the stage of the company and its management team objectives.

BLAST aim to level up business with £1.7m investment

BLAST, the global esports media network, has secured £1.7m from Edge Investments.

Edge’s investment will support BLAST in bolstering its broader UK operations while accelerating its international expansion to gain market share.

Since Edge launched in 2006 it has raised over £200m, investing in minority positions in companies benefitting from trends in creativity, lifestyle, and associated technologies. In 2015 Edge launched Edge Creative Enterprise Fund, a £40m fund with backing from the British Business Bank.

Further reading

Deals of the Week, November 13 to 20 – Growth Business roundup