Pickles Auctions Pty Limited (Pickles), an Australian marketplace for vehicles, industrial, and salvage assets, is to sell a majority share of its business to funds advised by global private equity firm Apax Partners (Apax). Privately owned since 1964, the business is now at an inflection point and the family has decided now is the right time to bring in outside investment, utilising the additional capital to fuel future growth. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year. The Pickles family will retain a minority interest going forward and the current executive leadership team will remain in

IQM Quantum Computers (IQM), the European leader in building superconducting quantum computers, has raised €128 million ($128m) in Series A2 funding led by World Fund. The funding, which follows a €39m ($39m) Series A1 announcement in 2020 and includes part of a €35m ($35m) venture loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), makes it the largest ever funding round raised by a European quantum computing company.   The round included participation from Bayern Kapital, EIC Fund, OurCrowd, QCI SPV, Tofino and Varma, as well as existing investors Maki.vc, Matadero QED, MIG Fonds, OpenOcean, Salvia GmbH, Santo Venture Capital GmbH, Tencent,

MIG Capital AG, one of Germany’s leading venture capital firms, has closed a Series A2 funding at its portfolio company IQM, a specialist in quantum computing hardware. MIG Fonds No. 2, 4, 6, 10, 14 as well as 17 participated in this round, which provided a combined €128 million in funding, and was led by World Fund, which is making an initial investment in IQM, plus new investors Varma, OurCrowd, EIC Fund, Bayern Capital, QuIC SPV and Tolfino.  This financing round is the inaugural MIG Fond 17 investment in a portfolio company. The round included participation from MIG as well

Sienna Investment Managers (Sienna IM), through its newly-created subsidiary dedicated to private equity (Sienna Private Equity), and Eight Advisory, an independent financial and operations consulting firm, has acquired a minority interest in Eight Advisory. Eight Advisory is a leading independent financial and operations consulting firm specialised in transaction, restructuring, transformation and financial engineering. Since its founding in 2009, Eight Advisory has experienced continuous growth of +21% per annum on average. The quality, seniority and commitment of its teams together with its clients have forged the firm’s solid reputation, which is now indisputable in the European financial advisory market. The company

Plexus Innovation, which is based in Durham, has secured £300,000 investment from the North East Venture Fund (NEVF), supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Mercia; and £180,000 from the Finance Durham Fund, managed by Maven Capital Partners, established by Durham County Council and overseen by Business Durham. Plexus Innovation’s GUARDIAN technology remotely monitors and measures temperature, CO2, humidity and water systems, enabling insight-driven decisions, reduction of energy use and provision of real-time data for use in compliance reporting. The system also provides automated alerts to highlight potential health risks or failing assets that otherwise may be

OWYN (Only What You Need), a provider of plant-based protein beverages and other functional nutrition products, has closed a growth investment round led by Purchase Capital with participation from Hammock Park Capital LLC and existing investor PowerPlant Ventures. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Today’s news follows the acquisition of a majority ownership stake in OWYN last year by United Nutritional Brands, an affiliate of Purchase Capital—an investment firm led by Nicholas J Singer that provides patient capital for private and public companies. Proceeds of this latest funding round will be deployed to drive national expansion, increase distribution

Slate Asset Management (Slate), a global alternative investment platform targeting real assets, has acquired a majority stake in amperio, a specialist planner and operator of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in Germany. Since 2012, amperio has been supporting companies, cities, and communities in developing tailored charging concepts, installing charging stations, and providing backend management services for charging stations. To date, amperio has installed over 1,800 intelligent charging points. Amperio maintains, operates, and executes the billing for over 300 of these charging points on behalf of its customers. As part of the transaction, Slate created Slate Mobility, an entity that will

Keensight Capital, a private equity manager dedicated to pan-European growth buyout investments, has acquired a majority stake in BYG4lab, an independent provider of data management software for medical laboratories specialised in both biology and microbiology. Keensight Capital will invest alongside the management team and IRDI Capital Investissement.   Founded in 1982 and headquartered in France, BYG4lab develops software that enhances the efficiency of a laboratory. The Company provides a number of key benefits, including but not limited to: improving workflow management, making instrument integration more efficient, handling mega lab configuration, designing personalised dashboards, maximising automatic validation, and managing quality control. 

Decentralised finance (DeFi) trading platform Hashflow, founded in 2021, has raised $25 million in new funding bringing its valuation to $400 million. The round included returning investors Electric Capital, Dragonfly Capital Partners, LedgerPrime, and Balaji Srinivasan, along with crypto-native new investors and market participants including Jump Crypto, Wintermute Trading, GSR, Kronos Research, and Altonomy. Other investors include Coinbase Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Fabric Ventures, Evernew Capital, Spacewhale Capital, and angel investors Meltem Demirors, Anthony Sassano, and Jason Choi.  This raise comes just over one year after Hashflow’s seed round of $3.2 million was announced in April 2021. The capital infusion will

H2 Equity Partners (H2) has invested in Motive Offshore Group (Motive) alongside its Founders and management team. Headquartered in Banff, Scotland, Motive is a Founder-owned and managed business which rents, certifies, inspects and sells winches and other back-deck equipment used in offshore energy infrastructure. The business is growing rapidly supported by the successful transition to renewables and its strengthening international footprint.   Following H2’s investment, Motive founders, David Acton and James Gregg, will continue to lead the business and work closely with H2 to deliver the next phase of growth and build on the progress made in transitioning to renewables.