AVORA, an enterprise analytics platform powered by native machine learning technology, has raised USD6.5m (GBP5.1m) in a Series A funding round led by Albion VC and existing investor Crane.  A number of previous backers also followed on including Dr Steve Garnett, former Chairman EMEA Salesforce.com, and Stephen Kelly.   AVORA

Blackstone Resources AG has created Blackstone Research in the city of Erfurt in Germany. Blackstone Research is a wholly-owned entity which will provide an important platform for the company to carry out further research and allow Blackstone to establish a substantial battery-production project in Germany. The aim is to manufacture

Metropolitan Partners Group Management (Metropolitan), a direct-lending fund manager that provides senior-secured, transitional capital to small and mid-sized businesses in the US, has closed an investment in US Home Aggregation (US Home), an acquirer and manager of single-family rental homes across targeted markets in the US. US Home will use

Venture capital investor Beringea has led a GBP9 million investment in AccessPay, a Manchester-based fintech firm. The funding round, also backed by US investors True Ventures and Route 66, is one of the largest ever investments in a financial technology company in the North. Maria Wagner, Investment Director at Beringea,

Vectis, a private equity firm long active in Nigeria, has concluded a restructuring investment transaction of USD12 million into Leventis Foods Ltd, an established Nigerian FMCG manufacturing company with leading brands of bread and snacks. The transaction is pending regulatory approvals. Upon completion Vectis will control a majority stake and

Decisiv, a specialist in Service Relationship Management (SRM) solutions, has secured a GBP30 million in equity funding from Kayne Partners, the growth equity group of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors. “The investment by Kayne Partners reflects our position as the leading provider of a highly successful and innovative approach to SRM

Goldman Sachs has led a USD8 million Series A investment round in Immersive Labs’ cyber security skills platform. The funding, made alongside smaller private investors, will grow an offering which arms enterprise IT and cyber security teams with the latest skills by combining threat data with gamified learning.    The award-winning Immersive Labs platform uses real-time feeds

Foresight Group (Foresight) has secured a GBP1.5 million investment from the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund (into Open Bionics Limited). The investment has been made alongside an identical commitment from Downing LLP and Ananda Impact Ventures of GBP1.5 million each and Rathbone Nominees to complete the GBP4.66 million round.  

Gallant Capital Partners (Gallant), a Los Angeles-based investment firm, has invested in Aero Turbine, an aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul service provider, in partnership with Doug Clayton and Dave Mattson. The company provides services to the US military as well as foreign militaries and other commercial customers around the world.