Innovation scale-up Wazoku has closed a series B funding round of £8.5 million through investment from Octopus Ventures along with follow on from existing investors including Calculus Capital. Wazoku works with global enterprises such as NASA, Enel, HSBC, Shell and more to help them innovate at scale. It will use the funding to drive R&D across its product suite, as well as further internationalisation, acquisitions and the management of hyperscale growth over the next two years. Wazoku has also announced the acquisition of the Danish collective intelligence platform, Mindpool, a research spinout that captures actionable employee insight to improve company

Industry Services Co (ISC), a provider of refractory and industrial maintenance services and a portfolio company of Osceola Capital, has acquired Lonestar Sierra Industrial Services.   This is the fifth acquisition ISC has completed in the past two years.    Lonestar Sierra is a refractory solutions provider specializing in refractory maintenance, demolition, installation, castings and support services. Refractory services is the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of industrial kilns and furnaces in manufacturing plants. The company services industrial customers in California, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and other states in the Western US. Lonestar Sierra services a broad

Raiven Capital, a global early-stage tech venture fund, has invested in Wayout, an IoT-enabled, water purification system that can turn all kinds of source water, even seawater, into drinkable water. Wayout is Raiven’s second European investment. Founded in 2018 in Stockholm, the company’s container-sized, tech-enabled system is essentially a powered “micro factory” that removes impurities and demineralises groundwater locally, eliminating the need to transport usable water to a faraway destination.  Each sensor-enabled unit, which produces water for 2,000 people per day, is connected to the cloud, providing immediate data on efficiency via a desktop app.  

Tikehau Capital has acquired a minority stake in Probe Test Solution Limited (PTSL), a semiconductor probe card manufacturer. The $30m investment, has been made via Tikehau’s pan-European growth impact private equity strategy and will support the company in its next phase of growth and development. Probe Test Solutions Limited designs and manufactures probe cards. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland, it has a presence in Europe, the US and Asia. PTSL is one of the fastest growing Automated Test Equipment (ATE) suppliers in the industry with an innovative product offering, experienced technical team, and a diverse customer base

Eagle Merchant Partners, a private equity firm focused on lower middle market businesses, has invested in Puget Collision, which has 19 collision repair shops operating in the CARSTAR and Fix Auto franchise systems. 

DPE Deutsche Private Equity (DPE), a growth investor in the DACH region, has closed the DPE Continuation Fund I (DPE CF I) at cEUR 708 million. DPE CF I was formed to invest in Eraneos Group (Eraneos) and valantic Group (valantic) – two investments acquired by funds managed by DPE (DPE Fund III) in 2017 and 2019, respectively – and to provide additional capital and time to continue their highly successful growth strategies that have been implemented since DPE’s initial investments in both companies. DPE CF I has been capitalised by a consortium of leading global secondary investors, led by

Brandon Capital, an Australasian life science venture capital firm, has co-led a $68 million series A financing of Pheon Therapeutics (Pheon). Other leading life sciences investors Forbion and Atlas Venture co-led the round, with participation from seed investor Research Corporation Technologies (RCT). Jonathan Tobin, Partner and head of Brandon Capital’s London office, takes on the role of Chairman of Pheon’s board of directors.  This new investment, Brandon’s largest into a European based company to date, will enable Pheon to advance its lead Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) programme to clinical proof-of-concept and establish a pipeline of novel ADCs.  

Private equity firm Trive Capital, along with strategic operating partner, SideKick Operators, has formed OWL Services (OWL), a sales, installation, programme management, and service provider to petroleum and clean energy companies across North America. The Company is the result of the recent acquisition of seven businesses including, WildcoPES, CBE, Crompco, e-Structure Solutions, Great Dane Petroleum, JBI Electrical Systems and Oscar W Larson Company (Oscar Larson). Oscar Larson’s management team, staff and technicians, and technology platform, combined with the service offering of the six other companies, are the foundation of the OWL Services platform. OWL Services will be headquartered in the

Pembroke VCT plc, a venture capital trust focused on backing early-stage businesses led by founders and management teams, has invested £2.5 million in ethical glasses company Bloobloom as part of a £3.7 million fundraise. Investing alongside Pembroke VCT are DMG Ventures and several angel investors.  Established in 2018 by brothers Abbas and Fares Manai, Bloobloom is disrupting the glasses market by selling premium spectacles and sunglasses at a fair price, via a seamless buying experience. Bloobloom sells direct to consumers both online and offline through a growing store network, removing the middlemen and costs associated with them. This latest round of

Babcock International has signed a legally binding agreement with UK-based investment firm, Inspirit Capital to divest part of its Civil Training business, a leading provider of apprenticeships and adult education in the UK.  The transaction is expected to complete later this calendar year once certain completion conditions have been satisfied, including approval from the industry regulator. Babcock’s Civil Training business provides apprenticeships and adult education services to a range of global, blue-chip clients, including FTSE 100 and 250 Companies. The business operates nationwide with a focus on the automotive, rail, nuclear, retail, hospitality and social care sectors and has around