Kerv, a customer-first cloud & digital transformation services provider backed by private equity investor LDC, has acquired the Communications Compliance Practice business of TDS Global Holdings, to significantly enhance its capabilities in FCA regulated compliance services. The acquisition will take the total Kerv business to over £60 million turnover and more than 500 staff and create the leading compliance technology practice serving the UK’s Tier 1 banking and financial services sector.   The rebranded Kerv Communications Compliance Practice provides mission-critical communications compliance services to major global financial services organisations including 50% of the Tier 1 UK banks with 140,000 channels

Horizon Technology Finance Corporation (Horizon), a specialty finance company that provides capital in the form of secured loans to venture capital backed companies in the technology, life science, healthcare information and services, and sustainability industries, has closed a $45 million venture loan facility to Swift Health Systems, Inc (dba InBrace), of which Horizon funded $7 million of the initial $10 million draw, and a private investment vehicle managed by Horizon Technology Finance Management LLC, Horizon’s advisor, funded $3 million. InBrace is the orthodontic company behind the Smartwire, transforming the teeth straightening process and markedly improving the patient experience. The InBrace

Gen II Fund Services (Gen II), an independent private capital fund administrator, has appointed Anne-Claire Berg as chief people & impact officer. Berg has extensive experience driving holistic transformations connecting business strategy with culture, organisation, and people to unlock growth. At Gen II, she will utilise her significant experience in talent acquisition, leadership development and organisational impact to build an engaged, inclusive and high-performing culture. She will oversee human resource operations across all Gen II locations.     Over the past 20 years, Berg has built and strengthened companies and brands as a business partner, a lawyer and an entrepreneur in

Wonder Robotics, a technology company specialising in the autonomous flight and landing of commercial drones, has closed a $4 million fundraising round led by Elron Ventures, in conjunction with Besadno Investment Group. The funds will be used to scale up operation and marketing efforts, while developing technology for additional applications.   Safe autonomous operation is this market’s enabler and at the heart of the rapidly developing drone regulation, and is being strongly promoted by the biggest industry players.  Wonder Robotics’ smart safety layer includes vertical awareness and robust precision landing, permitting drone safety beyond the operator/mission manager’s visual line of

Asset Class, a financial technology (fintech) company headquartered in Dublin with offices in New York and London, has completed a $11.6 million Series A funding round, led by fintech-focused venture capital firm Canapi Ventures. New and existing investors, including Live Oak Ventures, Plexus Capital and Total Technology Ventures also participated in the round. Formed in 2020, Asset Class provides a range of custom investment management software solutions to clients across financial sectors, with a focus on private equity, venture capital, financial advisory and commercial lending.  The growth capital will allow Asset Class to focus on expanding its employee headcount, specifically

Private equity firm Apollo Global Management and the credit arm of Blackstone Group are looking to sell Canada-based oil and gas producer Ridgeback Resources for CAD1 billion, according to a report by Reuters. The two private equity investors have reportedly appointed two unnamed investment banks to mange the sale which comes in the middle of a global surge in oil price following Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. The report cites unnamed sources as saying that no deal is guaranteed and that Ridgeback’s assets could be divested via a series of transactions rather than one sale. Ridgeback holds assets that cover

MidOcean Partners, a premier middle market private equity firm focused on the business services and consumer sectors, has acquired Pragmatic Institute (Pragmatic) from Renovus Capital Partners and other investors. Founded in 1993, Pragmatic has become one of the world’s largest and most-respected product management training companies. Over the past 30 years, the Company has successfully trained more than 200,000 professionals in top tier corporations across over 40 countries. By implementing its unique “Pragmatic Approach,” Pragmatic delivers cutting edge thought leadership via its world class team of trainers to create a company-wide language to drive excellence in the mission critical product

Kadmos, an end-to-end salary payments platform for cross-border employers, has raised €29 million in a Series A funding round led by Blossom Capital. The investment round, which follows an €8.3 million seed round in December, also included existing investors Addition and Atlantic Labs. This new financing will be used for technology and product development. Kadmos is uniquely positioned to capitalise on the growing global cross-border B2C payment volume projected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2022, involving 169 million migrant workers across the world, according to the UN.

Leeds-based independent games studio and virtual reality (VR) developer XR Games has secured £5.9 million ($7m) investment, in a round led by existing investors act media ventures, Praetura Ventures and Maven. This investment will support XR Games’ expansion as it moves to a brand-new studio in the centre of Leeds later this year. It will enable the business to grow its team as it invests in intellectual property (IP), the development of new games, and research into VR and augmented reality (AR) technologies, following the success of its Zombieland: Headshot Fever launch in 2021.   XR Games initially raised £1

Pexapark, a specialist in software and advisory services for renewable energy sales, has raised an additional €8 million in second round of Series B funding. This round began in late 2021, and brings Pexapark’s total Series B funding to €14 million, and its total equity investment to €19 million, accelerating its growth in the global renewable energy market.   The funding round, formally announced this month, has seen S&P Global Commodity Insights, which includes S&P’s Platts price benchmarks, and Fluence, an energy storage and digital applications leader, join existing Series A and B investors Encavis, RP Global and BayWa re