As the private credit sector booms to over $1 trillion, mammoth asset manager, BlackRock is in the market for private credit opportunities and is looking to raise a total of $4 billion. This follows the 2019 Global Credit Opportunities fund, which raised around $2 billion. BlackRock has already raised half of the targeted allocation for this fund, with fundraising continuing. Preqin is predicting that private credit will be the second largest private capital class by 2023, and that assets under management could reach $2.69 trillion by 2026.

International digital therapeutics leader Sidekick Health has raised $55 million in a Series B funding round led by London-based venture capital firm Novator Ventures. Wellington Partners, Asabys Partners, and Frumtak Ventures also participated in the round along with a US-based strategic investor that will be revealed at a later stage.  Novator Ventures general partner and founder Birgir Mar Ragnarsson joins Sidekick’s board of directors in conjunction with the closing of the Series B financing. 

TIMIA Capital Corporation (TIMIA), a specialist in private credit, is to acquire Brightpath Capital Corporation and Brightpath Residential Mortgage LP I (collectively, Brightpath), a Canadian private provider of residential mortgages focused on Ontario and British Columbia, for a purchase price of approximately $30.5 million. The deal price comprises a combination of 31,250,000 common shares (Common Shares) with a deemed value of $0.40 per share and 18,000,000 series A preferred shares (Preferred Shares) with a deemed value of $1.00 per share. The Brightpath management team will continue to operate the mortgage lending company.

Nordic Capital-backed ADVANZ PHARMA Corp, a UK-headquartered pharmaceutical company with a strategic focus on specialty and hospital pharmaceuticals in Europe, is to acquire the majority of Intercept Pharmaceuticals’ subsidiaries and operations in Europe, Canada, and all other markets outside of the US. This includes the ex-US rights to commercialise Ocaliva (obeticholic acid) for primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), a progressive autoimmune disease that damages the bile ducts in the liver. Intercept is a US-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of novel therapeutics to treat progressive non-viral liver diseases. The majority of Intercept employees outside of the US will

Januar ApS (januar.com) has closed the largest seed round in Danish history, a €6 million fund-raising led by Element Ventures. Angular Ventures, Outward VC, and early pre-seed backers byFounders also participated in the round which also includes well-renowned angel investors including Nicolas Julia, co-founder and CEO of Sorare, Charlie Songhurst, former Head of Strategy at Microsoft, Pierre-Antoine Pierre, CEO and Founder IBanFirst, Jørgen Horwitz, former Director of Finansrådet as well as Einar Braathen from CoinFund.    With the proceeds from the seed round, Januar aims to become a leading one-stop crypto gate for European businesses, serving the growing crypto and

HIG Capital (HIG) portfolio company, The Bluebird Group (Bluebird), has acquired 479 Sales & Marketing, LLC (479), a full-service retail services consulting firm. With almost two decades of experience, 479 provides leading brands with the strategic planning, operations consulting, account management, digital optimization, and data analytics services necessary to succeed at Walmart, Walmart.com and Sam’s Club.

Platform Continues Growth Trajectory into Southern New England with its 6th Acquisition. FSI’s founders Charles and Cheryl Barrett and Gary Lanowy will maintain a minority stake in the Company.  Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.   Altus has partnered with key industry executives, including Board Chair Kelly Romano, an AEI Operating Partner with deep sector experience in fire & security and commercial building industries including over 30 years at United Technologies Corporation (UTC), and Board Member Ed Cettina, a senior construction management executive previously working with AECOM and Tishman Construction.

Tribe Capital has led a $50 million Series B funding round in LinearB, the developer of an engineering efficiency platform, according to a report by CTech. New investor Salesforce Ventures, as well as existing investors Battery Ventures and 83North, also participated in the round. This lates round brings total funding for LinearB to $71 million. 

Shore Capital Partners (Shore) has formed a growth partnership with OC Flavors (OC), a custom flavour developer and manufacturer based in Chino, California. OC Flavors was founded in 2007 by Leah McCuen and Monica Ahuero to offer a full range of natural and organic flavours and flavouring solutions across a variety of food, beverage and supplement product applications.  Shore Capital is partnering with the Company’s management team, which has led OC Flavors through tremendous growth over the past 15 years. OC and Shore plan to invest in several key initiatives to drive growth, including added support in key areas such

Access and identity control SaaS- and hardware start-up Nine Engineering is raising €1.1 million to increase access security, site safety and privacy compliancy. Nine Engineering offers easy-to-use solutions that increase access security, site safety and privacy compliancy. The start-up’s offerings include both a privacy-compliant SaaS platform for documentation that centralises user identification, certificates, and training courses – which makes documents easily available for audits, and the hardware devices needed for access management on site, which work with QR codes, smartphone scans or facial recognition. Nine Engineering has the support of investors including Pitchdrive and Noël Keysers, loans from BNP Paribas