Swave Photonics, a specialist in holographic extended reality (HXR) technology to bring the metaverse to life, has raised €7 million in a seed funding round co-led by Imec.xpand, a value-add venture capital fund focused on nanotechnology innovations, and Flanders Future Techfund (FFTF), a Belgian/Flemish public investment fund. QBIC, a Belgian inter-university venture capital fund, is also participating.  The investment will be used to fund the commercialisation of truly realistic, immersive 3D HXR gigapixel technology for a wide range of emerging applications. The demand for eXtended Reality (XR) technology that enhances or replaces our view of the world is exploding with

Speechmatics, a speech recognition technology scaleup, has raised $62 million in a Series B funding round led by Susquehanna Growth Equity with participation from existing investors AlbionVC and IQ Capital. The funding will be used to support Speechmatics’ vision to be a world-leading speech platform, understanding every voice with human-level accuracy. Speechmatics is headquartered in Cambridge, UK with offices in London, Boston, USA, Chennai, India and Brno, in the Czech Republic. The investment will be used to support global expansion across the United States and Asia-Pacific, improving infrastructure – particularly data centre capacity and adding further firepower to its research

Sagewind Capital (Sagewind), a New York-based middle-market private equity firm, has led the Series B financing of Code-X, a security software company that protects sensitive information and systems using its proprietary lattice-based technology. Code-X has developed the first-ever commercially available lattice-based data protection platform that protects data, at rest and in motion, from the threat of quantum computing. The platform protects sensitive information across all IT environments while enabling authentication, management and monitoring data and systems in real time. Code-X’s platform is relied upon by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and the intelligence community. The Series B funding

The executive team of Safic-Alcan, together with existing private equity funds partners EMZ partners, Sagard and Société Générale Capital Partenaires, have started a new project. All three historical partners will continue to invest alongside the management with three new private equity funds – Equistone, IK Partners and GENEO Capital Entrepreneur – also taking a enormity stake in the new project   Safic-Alcan, a French independent distributor of specialty chemicals headquartered in Paris La Défense (France) and developer of a wide range of polymers, materials and additives for the rubber, coatings, adhesives, thermoplastics, polyurethane, lubricants, detergency, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and nutraceuticals industries,

Mid-market private equity firm LDC has exited Solid Solutions, a specialist reseller of 3D design software, to TriMech, a US-based technology and business solutions partner for designers, engineers, and manufacturers. Founded in 1998 and with headquarters in Leamington Spa, Solid Solutions is the UK and Ireland’s leading independent provider of SOLIDWORKS, a 3D computer-aided design (CAD) package.    LDC backed Solid Solutions’ management team, led by CEO and Founder Alan Sampson, CTO Simon Turner and CSO Kathy Sampson in 2020. Since then, the private equity firm has helped the business to deliver an organic and acquisitive growth strategy.    

Kaiko, a digital assets data provider serving institutional investors and enterprises, has raised $53 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Eight Roads, with participation from Revaia and existing investors Alven, Point9, Anthemis, and Underscore.   Founded in 2014, Kaiko is the global industry reference for digital assets market information. Kaiko has established its position by enhancing transparency and operational efficiency for institutional companies, DeFi participants, and Web3 enterprises.  The Company’s product suite comprises market data, portfolio solutions, rates & indices, pricing services, DeFi data, and research covering digital assets that comprise over 95% of global traded

Clearlake Capital Group is to sell Brightly Software to Siemens AG (Siemens) (FRA:SIE) for $1.575 billion of upfront cash consideration, along with $300 million in cash earn-out payments, for a total of $1.875 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2022 and is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.   Brightly is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider of cloud-based enterprise asset management and facility operations management. Clearlake acquired Brightly, formerly known as “Dude Solutions,” in June 2019 and subsequently executed on its OPS strategy by partnering with management to support the Company through multiple

Watterson, a leading national facility services company and a portfolio company of Highview Capital (Highview), has acquired Bassett Creek Services (Bassett Creek or BCS), a specialist in restoration and renovation services. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Bassett Creek provides mission-critical restoration, renovation, and specialty services to a diverse group of commercial and residential clients. The company is comprised of five leading brands – JR Johnson, Cornerstone Renovation Group, Region Construction Group, Baxter Restoration, and Disaster Restoration Pros – with complementary capabilities and expertise that allow BCS to holistically service customers across the nation. Since its founding in 2018, BCS’s brands have

Cytomos, an Edinburgh-based life science company that has developed a proprietary new approach to analysing cells, has secured £1.6m funding to progress the development and qualification of its novel cell analysis platform, Cytomos Dielectric Spectroscopy (CDS). The fundraising round by Cytomos was led by existing investor Archangels with participation from Scottish Enterprise and Old College Capital.   Cytomos has developed its technology platform to address the unmet needs of the biopharma industry, providing a low-cost, portable and scalable alternative.   Founded in 1992, Archangels is the world’s oldest continuously operating business angel syndicate investing in early-stage Scottish life sciences and

Ara Partners (Ara), a private equity firm that specialises in industrial decarbonisation investments, has acquired Petainer Ltd (Petainer), a UK-based, global producer of sustainability-focused beverage packaging solutions. Petainer was acquired by Ara in partnership with Petainer management and affiliates of Next Wave Partners LLP.    Petainer, which is led by CEO Hugh Ross, is a technical and innovation leader in the development and manufacture of sustainable, high-performance polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging solutions for blue chip customers in the soft drinks, beer, water and other CPG sectors. The Company has particular strengths in refPET (multiple-use, refillable bottles), rPET (recycled PET) and