Mid-market private equity firm LDC has invested GBP20million to back the management buyout (MBO) of Shield Group International (SGI) from global testing, inspection and certification group Kiwa. SGI, formerly known as Kiwa Compliance International, is an international environmental testing, inspection and consultancy business. LDC has invested to support the existing

E-sports brand Fnatic has secured USD19 million USD in a Series A funding round led by tech entrepreneur Lev Leviev of LVL1 Group, who also joins the board, plus new and continued support from investors including transatlantic venture capital firm Beringea,  BlackPine, Unbound and Joi Ito. With this investment, Fnatic

Palatine Private Equity is targeting the GBP100 million investment mark in Midlands businesses, having pumped GBP55 million into the region over the last three years. The firm opened its Midlands office in December 2015, and has since moved to a new office in Somerset House on Temple Street.   Palatine’s

HIG WhiteHorse, a credit affiliate of HIG Capital, a global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with over EUR26 billion of equity capital under management, has provided a growth capital solution to Risparmio Casa, a leading Italian drugstore chain based in Pomezia, Italy. Established over 30 years ago by

SEEK Group is to invest GBP50 million to become a joint, 50 per cent owner of The Open University’s FutureLearn social learning platform, in a deal thought to be the largest ever private-sector EdTech investment in Europe. The Open University launched FutureLearn, which is based in London, in December 2012

ARQIS has advised the investors of the Cologne-based ice cream start-up NOMOO, a brand of NRDS, on its first financing round.  A group of three venture capital investors – Quest Solutions, Siltho Research, and AM1 Ventures – participated in the investment. Details of the financing round have not been disclosed.